The Presidency yesterday lashed out at the Goodluck Jonathan administration, saying it awarded a lot of deceitful and ghost projects that were not funded.
The Presidency, however, said the government of President Muhammadu Buhari was speeding up ongoing projects and investing heavily in the construction and repairs of highways, railways and power generating plants across the country.
It said that N750billion had been released for capital projects in the last five months and that counterpart funds for the take-off of the $11billion Kano-Lagos rail project had been paid.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, made the revelation in an interview program on Express Radio in Kano on Tuesday.
He said the administration had chosen to fast track projects related to infrastructure in order to pump money into the economy as a way of pulling the economy out of recession. He said a number of projects existing on paper are now being activated, citing the Kano-Katsina dual road project as an example of what he called “deceitful and ghost projects now being given life.”
He said: “Kano-Katsina dual highway was awarded three years ago by the last administration. They didn’t pay a kobo for its start-up. President Buhari just paid money for the first tranche of 75 kilometers and work has begun apace.”
Garba explained that infrastructure was key in the country’s economic and industrial take-off, saying, “without infrastructure, the country will not witness growth.
