President Muhammadu Buhari is determined to bridge the nation’s infrastructure gap before his tenure ends in 2023, his Chief of Staff, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, has said.
Speaking, on Thursday, at the public presentation of the book “Legacies of a Legend,” selected speeches of former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur in Abuja, he also said that if debts are properly contracted, they can enhance economic growth.
Gambari, who represented the President at the occasion, observed that Tukur had not received the credit he deserves in the debt cancellation enjoyed by Nigeria and other African countries.
According to him, prior to the debt cancellation, many poor African nations were using their resources for servicing debt obligations, not with the cancellation, they channelled the funds into infrastructure development.
While recalling his assignments as a diplomat, the Chief of Staff to the President stated: “During the latter part of my engagement there, I recalled Bamanga Tukur’s activities with Tony Blair led Commission for Africa in 2004/2005 and how that led to the 2005 G8 Summit landmark decision on debt cancellation for 32 African countries.
“Prior to that, many poor African countries were using a large portion of their little resources to service debt obligations.
“The benefits of debt cancellation was that many African countries were then able to free up resources which they previously channelled into debt servicing and deployed them into socio-economic and infrastructural projects.
“That explained the fact that shortly after, the fastest growing economy was from Africa which perfectly fuelled Africa’s rising narrative.
“To my mind, much credits are not yet given to the role played by Alhaji Bamanga Tukur in the process. We must recognise that now.
“Unfortunately, these debts that were incurred in the past previous to debt cancellation advocacy were not channelled into appropriate economic goods and services that directly lay the foundation upon which the economic growth will be experienced.
“Debt, if properly contracted and utilised effectively, is an important instrument in the economic blueprint of a government in its policymaking sphere.
“Our President is determined to execute these projects and ensure that before he departs office, under his watch, infrastructure gap of Nigeria which was widened has been reduced considerably.”
Gambari praised the 86 years old former party boss for his services to the nation, noting: “Bamanga Tukur dedicated his energy and passion to shaping public policies, private sector development, and public-private partnerships through the platform of Africa’s Business Roundtable.”
He added: “Alhaji Bamanga Tukur is always a source of comfort to me because my critics at the UN used to refer to me as a Special Envoy to places no right mind will want to go: Myanmar, Iraq, Dafour. But as he always said, these are challenges that must be met and I should continue to serve the UN with the best of my ability as a true son of Nigeria for Africa.”
Also speaking, the chairman of the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (retd), described Tukur as a man of many parts.
He added that he is “an astute administrator, philanthropist, farmer, statesman, industrialist, diplomat, a man of honour and integrity, a man of substance, a man of exemplary character, and unblemished life.
“When he was in active politics, he played it without bitterness and rancour. Tafida is a great father and a teacher of all.”
Marwa used the occasion to call on parents to do a drug test on suitors of their children.
“One more thing before I leave this stage, I must take advantage of this audience. Please, how many of you will like your daughters to mary drug addicts? Raise your hands. Before the wedding, we always do HIV tests. We do a genotype test. I appeal to you, please, let also have a drug test before wedding,” he pleaded.
source: tribuneonlineng
