Femi Adesina, spokesman to President Muhammadu Buhari has, in a piece captioned “The Buhari administration at six: counting the blessings one by one”, reeled off achievements that he deemed enough to make Nigerians proud.

Mr Adesina’s treatise was in commemoration of the Buhari administration as it clocks six years on May 29, 2021.

According to the presidential aide, this milestone affords the opportunity to reflect and recount the impact that has been made (and is being made) on different sectors of national life. 

He said: “From infrastructure to finance, education, healthcare, sports, anti-corruption, human development, housing, oil and gas, foreign relations, and many others, the Administration is recording giant strides, enough to make Nigerians proud.

“That is, those who are dispassionate and fair-minded, not beclouded by political partisanship and undue cynicism. 

“Some people claim: we don’t see what they are doing. We don’t hear about it. Well, here it is. A Fact Sheet, a report card on the Buhari Administration, just a bit of the successes, as the milestone of six years is attained. 

“As it is said, the past is but a story told. The future may yet be written in gold. 

“When the Administration breasts the tape in another two years, by the grace of God, the applause will be resounding, even from the worst of sceptics.

“Facts are undeniable, and always remain so. They are stubborn things.’’ 

Despite Mr Adesina’s flowery renderings, Nigeria has worsened in major developmental indices since Mr Buhari assumed power..

The Boko Haram insurgency that had been effectively contained to the North-East has transmuted to wide-spreading banditry across many parts of North-West and North-Central.

No fewer than 446,000 persons have been displaced across the North-West since the incidence of banditry, according to humanitarian crises analysts, ACAPS. Many others have also been killed in the crisis.

After initial denials, the country’s data office, NBS confirmed that Nigeria had become the poverty capital of the world in a 2020 report. 

Over 40 per cent of Nigerians live below the poverty line of N137,430 per annum, according to the NBS report. The economic situation of the country has not improved much since 2020.