FG faults Atiku’s blueprint on tackling insecurity, economy

The Federal Government has faulted former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s agenda on how he will tackle insecurity and other economic issues bedeviling the country if he wins the 2023 presidential election.

Speaking at a media briefing on Thursday, Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said the Economic Blueprint as presented by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party is tacit, lacking substance.

Lai Mohammed said discussion around tackling insecurity is opaque.

“On security, all that the leader of a party that frittered the money meant for the purchase of weapons and platforms for the military on frivolous activities could say is ‘we will take tough and difficult decisions on security matters without fear or favor.’ Really?

“While they lost confidence in our military and opted instead for mercenaries, President Buhari, who has never wavered in his belief in the capability of our fighting forces, steadily and surely re-equipped the military.

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“Which today is decimating the bandits and terrorists that had held sway in some parts of the country, thus restoring security,’’ he said.

The minister said it was surprising that what the former vice president could only reel out in his Economic Blueprint was what the Buhari government had been doing in the past seven years.

“It is a measure of how much this administration has achieved in all sectors that the best the opposition could do is to seek to copy what the administration has been doing.

“Yet, the opposition in its desperation to get power has continued to deny and derogate the administration’s achievements,’’ he said.

The minister said the Buhari administration that engaged in massive infrastructure development despite the paucity of resources should not be denigrated by an opposition that lacked originality.