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Minister Taunts Buhari’s ‘Giant Strides’ As President

Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, yesterday, lashed out at the opposition in the country, claiming that they were trying to downplay the monumental strides recorded by the Muhammadu Buhari administration.
Mohammed, who spoke at the presentation of the achievements recorded in the youth and sports sector of the economy since the administration came to power in 2015, described the attempt by the opposition to rubbish the feat recorded by Buhari, as preposterous.
The minister said: “Let me quickly respond to the preposterous claim by the opposition, on the campaign trail, that this administration has not achieved anything and hence has nothing to campaign with. Are these people living in a cave?
“If they haven’t seen, have they not heard of our National Social Investment Programme that is unprecedented in the history of this county? No administration in the history of Nigeria has had a Social Investment Programme that feeds 10million school children a day; a cash transfer scheme that has enrolled 1,632,480 households (households, not individuals); a scheme that empowers and paysstipends to unemployed graduates and an Enterprise Empowerment Programme that provides easily-accessible microloans to those at the bottom of the pyramid, who engage in commercial activities but face significant challenges with access to finance/credit?
“Before we came into office in 2015, Nigeria did not have a functioning modern railway system. Today, we have a well-functioning Abuja-Kaduna, Lagos-Ibadan and Itakpe-Warri modern rail systems. Theylay claim to starting Abuja-Kaduna but forgot that Itakpe-Warri was also started by another Administration over 30 years ago, but abandoned until this Administration assumed office in 2015.
“Before this administration came into office in 2015, several past administrations had started and completed – on paper – the all-important 2nd Niger Bridge. Only last week, this bridge became areality when it was opened to motorists. What about the 40-kilometre Bonny-Bodo road that has a total of 13 bridges? In the words of the Honourable Minister of Works and Housing, for the first time in thehistory of mankind, you can now walk on your way between Bodo and Bonny. What about airport terminals? Do these people close their eyes when they fly through brand new terminals at airports in Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt and Enugu?
“Is the opposition pretending not to have heard of the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK), 614-km-long gas pipeline project that will ferry gas from southern to Northern Nigeria, and which represents phase 1 of the 1,300-km-long Trans-Nigerian Gas Pipeline Project? Can they deny the crude oil find in the Kolmani Field spanning Bauchi and Gombe states where drilling was flagged off by Mr. President last month? Can they deny that the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme has helped to move Nigeria closer to attaining self-sufficiency in many staples?
“Can the opposition deny that we have put in place the Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure, otherwise known as Deep Blue Asset that has seen a drastic decline in piracyattacks? Can an administration with, at least, one road construction in every state of the Federation, and the one that has completed housing projects in 35 states, be labelled as non-performing? What about theliberation of Nigeria’s territory from insurgents and the re-equipping of our security forces, the same security forces that were left stranded when money meant to equip them were looted silly by rampagingofficials, some of whom admitted to spending N2.2billion to pray against Boko Haram? Who gave Nigeria the Petroleum Industry Act, the most ambitious attempt at overhauling the petroleum sector in Nigeria?” the minister queried.
News
FG Ends Passport Production At Multiple Centres After 62 Years

The Nigeria Immigration Service has officially ended passport production at multiple centres, transitioning to a single, centralised system for the first time in 62 years.
Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this yesterday while inspecting Nigeria’s new Centralised Passport Personalisation Centre at the NIS Headquarters in Abuja.
He stated that since the establishment of NIS in 1963, Nigeria had never operated a central passport production centre, until now, marking a major reform milestone.
“The project is 100 per cent ready. Nigeria can now be more productive and efficient in delivering passport services,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He explained that old machines could only produce 250 to 300 passports daily, but the new system had a capacity of 4,500 to 5,000 passports every day.
“With this, NIS can now meet daily demands within just four to five hours of operation,” he added, describing it as a game-changer for passport processing in Nigeria.
“We promised two-week delivery, and we’re now pushing for one week.
“Automation and optimisation are crucial for keeping this promise to Nigerians,” the minister said.
He noted that centralisation, in line with global standards, would improve uniformity and enhance the overall integrity of Nigerian travel documents worldwide.
Tunji-Ojo described the development as a step toward bringing services closer to Nigerians while driving a culture of efficiency and total passport system reform.
He said the centralised production system aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s reform agenda, boosting NIS capacity and changing the narrative for better service delivery.
News
FAAC Disburses N2.225trn For August, Highest In Nigeria

The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has disbursed N2.225 trillion as federation revenue for the month of August 2025, the highest ever allocation to the three tiers of government and other statutory recipients.
This marks the second consecutive month that FAAC disbursements have crossed the N2 trillion mark.
The revenue, shared at the August 2025 FAAC meeting in Abuja, was buoyed by increases in oil and gas royalty, value-added tax (VAT), and common external tariff (CET) levies, according to a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting.
Out of the N2.225 trillion total distributable revenue, FAAC said N1,478.593 trillion came from statutory revenue, N672.903 billion from VAT, N32.338 billion from the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), and N41.284 billion from Exchange Difference.
The communiqué revealed that gross federation revenue for the month stood at N3.635 trillion. From this amount, N124.839 billion was deducted as cost of collection, while N1,285.845 trillion was set aside for transfers, interventions, refunds, and savings.
From the statutory revenue of N1.478 trillion, the Federal Government received N684.462 billion, State Governments received N347.168 billion, and Local Government Councils received N267.652 billion. A further N179.311 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) went to oil-producing states as derivation revenue.
From the distributable VAT revenue of N672.903 billion, the Federal Government received N100.935 billion, the states received N336.452 billion, while the local governments got N235.516 billion.
Of the N32.338 billion shared from EMTL, the Federal Government received N4.851 billion, the States received N16.169 billion, and the Local Governments received N11.318 billion.
From the N41.284 billion exchange difference, the Federal Government received N19.799 billion, the states received N10.042 billion, and the local governments received N7.742 billion, while N3.701 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) was shared to the oil-producing states as derivation.
News
KenPoly Governing Council Decries Inadequate Power Supply, Poor Infrastructure On Campus
The Governing Council of Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic, Bori, has decried the inadequate power supply and poor state of infrastructural facilities and equipment at the institution.
The Council also appealed to the government, including Non-Governmental Organisations, agencies, as well as well-meaning Rivers people to intervene to restore and sustain the laudable gesture, dreams and aspirations of the founding fathers of the polytechnic.
The Chairman of the newly inaugurated Council, Professor Friday B. Sigalo, made this appeal during a tour of facilities at the Polytechnic, recently.
Accompanied by members of the team, Prof Sigalo emphasised the position of technology, technical and vocational education in sustainable development.
He noted that with the prospects on ground, and the programmes and activities undertaken in the polytechnic, there is no doubt that the institution would add values to the educational system in our society and foster the desired development, if the existing challenges are jointly tackled.
This was contained in a statement signed by Deputy Registrar, Public Relations, Kenpoly, Innocent Ogbonda-Nwanwu, and made available to The Tide in Port Harcourt.
The chairman who restated the intention of his team of technocrats to ensure that KenPoly enjoys desirable face-lift, said the Council would deliver on its core mandates, accordingly.
Earlier, the Rector, KenPoly Engr. Dr. Ledum S. Gwarah, commended the appointment of Professor Friday B. Sigalo as Chairman of the KenPoly Governing Council.
He described him and his team as seasoned technocrats and expressed confidence in their ability to succeed.
The Rector pledged the management’s support to the Council to ensure that KenPoly resumes its rightful place in the comity of polytechnics in the country.
Facilities visited by the Governing Council include KenPoly workshops, laboratories, skills acquisition centre, library, hostels and medical centre.
Chinedu Wosu
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