“Ghana and Nigeria are like siblings, and it would be most inappropriate, because of politics, for anyone, regardless of his or her status in society, to try to sow seeds of discord amongst the leadership and peoples of our two countries.”

Ghana’s High Commissioner in Nigeria, Mr. Rashid Bawa made this warning, when he denounced ex Nigeria’s President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan for misquoting President Nana Akuffo-Addo over security situation in Nigeria.

The High Commissioner complained that Nigeria’s ex-President misquoted Ghana’s President’s speech delivered at the Oxford African Conference.

He recalled the exact words of President Akufo-Addo: ‘For most of you in the audience today, it is probably before your time. But in the late 1970s up to the mid-1980s, as a result of the discovery of considerable petroleum deposits, Nigeria was booming. It was the place to be.

‘We Ghanaians, who were going through very difficult times then, would arrive at Heathrow Airport, and be herded into a cage to be subjected to the full third degree by Immigration , and we would look on as our Nigerian cousins would be waved through, with a ‘welcome sir’ and a ‘welcome madam’ .

 ‘The newspaper headlines in this country were full of Nigerians leaving or forgetting bundles of money in taxis and telephone booths. Nigerians were the preferred tenants for those who had apartments to let. You could stop by any Thomas Cook shop on any High Street in this country and buy or sell Naira, the Nigerian currency, and you could do the same in New York, and I suspect in many other Western country cities.

‘I do not need to spell out today’s reality to anyone in this audience. I cite this just to make the point that the “the outside world” is well able to tell that there are separate sovereign nations on the African continent. But when the news is not good, then Africa is treated as one entity.’

Bawa disagreed also with Jonathan’s reference to Akufo-Addo’s purported disposition towards cattle-rearing.

 “The other alleged remark that ‘Ghana is not Nigeria where cattle can roam about anyhow’ has never been made by President Akufo-Addo. That is not his way of speaking.

“President Akufo-Addo, in many of the speeches he has made in Nigeria and elsewhere since becoming the President of Ghana, has described Nigeria as ‘a country I describe as my second home in the world’, and will never use Nigeria to make negative examples as the former President Goodluck Jonathan sought to portray.

“President Akufo-Addo enjoys a very good relationship with President Muhammadu Buhari , as he has with many other Nigerian leaders.

Jonathan had at the commissioning of a flyover in Ado Ekiti said that Nigeria had deteriorated so much that it had lost its respect in Africa.

Jonathan in his speech at the inauguration on May 25 said: “A President of a neighbouring country, Ghana, recently made two negative remarks about Nigeria. First, the current Ghanaian President was addressing Ghanaians about the movement of cattle within their shores and he said openly that Ghana is not like Nigeria where cattle roam freely. That was quite uncomplimentary.

According to Jonathan, “the same President was speaking in the United Kingdom when he made disparaging remarks about Nigeria’s currency’’.

“If it has got to a level when the Presidents of neighbouring countries will cite Nigeria as a negative example, then we must know as leaders of this country that certain things are not going well, and we must change the way we do things.”

The Presidency has come up with what it called a factsheet outlining the policy and programme of achievements of the Muhammadu Buhari Administration since it assumed office three years ago, on May 29, 2015.

The 41-page document, release by the spokesmen of the President, Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu, highlights successes in the Economy, Security and the fight against Corruption – the three priorities of President Buhari’s Change Agenda.

It is organized into the following sections: Resetting the Economy; Restoring Growth, Growing What We Eat, Making Business Work, Doing More With Less, Investing In People, New Vision for the Niger Delta, Plugging Leakages and Justice Reforms.

The Factsheet, which will be updated regularly, showcases improving economic indices, rising investment in agriculture and infrastructure, successes in the fight against terrorism, and ongoing efforts to improve security in the North Central.

In addition, it lists the several measures taken to promote transparency and accountability in government finances.

Highlights of the Factsheet include the following:

·      Nigeria’s economy is back on the path of growth, after the recession of 2016-17 (1.95 percent growth in Q1 2018)

·      The Buhari Administration’s priority Sectors of Agriculture and Solid Minerals maintained consistent growth throughout the recession.

·      Inflation has fallen for the fifteenth (15^th) consecutive month, from 18.7 percent in January 2017 to 12.5 percent as of April 2018.

·      External Reserves of US$47.5 billion are the highest in 5 years and double the size as of October 2016.

·      Total exports in 2017 were 59.47% higher than for 2016

·      The first quarter of 2018 saw the fourth consecutive quarterly increase in capital importation since Q2 2017. The total value of capital imported in the quarter stood at US$6.3 billion, which is a year-on-year increase of 594.03%, and a 17.11% growth over the figure reported in the previous quarter.

·      The new FX Window introduced by the CBN in April 2017, now sees an average of US$1 billion in weekly turnover, and has attracted about US$25 billion in inflows in its first year (and a total turnover of $47.14 billion) – signalling rising investor confidence in Nigeria.

·      Nigeria’s Stock Market ended 2017 as one of the best-performing in the world, with returns in excess of 40 percent.

·      Five (5) million new taxpayers added to the Tax Base since 2016, as part of efforts to diversify Government revenues.

·      Tax Revenue increased to N1.17 Trillion in Q1 2018, a 51% increase on the Q1 2017 figure.

·      N2.7 Trillion spent on Infrastructure in 2016 and 2017 fiscal years, an unprecedented allocation in Nigeria’s recent history.

·      Fourteen (14) moribund Blending Plants revitalized so far under the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative (PFI); with a total capacity of 2.3 million MT of NPK fertilizer

·      In May 2018, the Federal Government launched the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF), under the management of the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority. The PIDF is kicking off with seed funding of US$1.3 billion.

·      Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) in March 2018 invested US$10m to establish a world-class Cancer Treatment Centre at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), and US$5m each in the Aminu Kano University Teaching Hospital and the Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia, to establish modern Diagnostic Centres. These Centres should be completed before the end of 2018.

·      The Buhari Administration issued a N100 billion Sukuk Bond in 2017, Nigeria’s first sovereign Sukuk Bond. Proceeds from that Bond are funding 25 major road projects across the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria.

The complete Factsheet is available on the State House website here:

http://statehouse.gov.ng/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/BUHARI-ADMINISTRATION-3RD-YEAR-FACTSHEET_MAY-29-2018-1.pdf