I've been seeing a whole lot of topics stating how irrelevant Gen. Buhari is and how important Mr Jonathan is. Mr Jonathan because I don't consider him a leader of Nigeria but just a figure head occupying the presidential position.

Here are some facts about Gen. Buhari.

Initially PTF awarded contracts for the rehabilitation of 12,000km of federal highways (including
drainages) nationwide, and between 25-100km of urban road in major cities such as Gusau, Benin, Funtua, Zaria, Enugu, Kaduna, Aba, Lagos, Lokoja, and Port Harcourt. A N27.3bn contract was awarded for road rehabilitation in the first quarter of 1996.
The sum of N1.328bn was awarded to 53 pharmaceutical companies for the supply of drugs, while the importation of vaccines cost N229.9m.

As at December 31, 1997, funds available to
PTF stood at N115.1bn. One thing even the most
uncharitable critic of PTF will admit is that it has
evolved a new way of doing things. This is true
to its mission statement which is 'to establish and operate an open, modest and efficient
organisation for the purpose of achieving the
honest and timely execution of carefully designed socio-economic projects.' It depends therefore largely on consultant supervised by Afri- Projects Consortium, the management consultant to PTF. This policy has created jobs and boosted the confidence of Nigerian professionals such as architects, engineers and quantity surveyors. In many other ways, PTF
has thrown a lifeline to dying sectors of the
economy. Most of Nigeria's pharmaceutical companies were failing, and the foreign multinationals were divesting. But through its drug procurement programme, PTF has turned the balance sheet of most of them into profit. Equipment and car leasing companies are also benefitting from
the multiplier effects of PTF operations. Banks and insurance companies have also benefited. Nigeria has a history of contractors collecting mobilisation (advance) fees and not carrying out the contract. But not with PTF. Every advance payment up to N10m
must be guaranteed by PTF-approved bank, while other advance payments are covered by performance bonds issued by similarly approved insurance companies. This method, apart from increasing solvency through cash deposits, has created business for banks and insurance companies. One of the insurance companies that has benefited from PTF as a provider of performance bonds is The United Nigeria Insurance Company (UNIC), a composite insurance company which provides both life and non-life insurance. The total assets of UNIC stood at N979m while it grossed premium income of N916m and settled claims of N263m in 1996. With a staff of 552 spread all over its nationwide branch
network, UNIC is today one of the leading insurance company in Nigeria. Another company that has done good business with PTF is IPWA plc, formerly International Paints (West Africa) Ltd.
IPWA is today one of the biggest and most
diversified paint
manufacturers in
Nigeria. The company
product range spans
automotive paints, building paints,
industrial coatings and
marine coatings. Others
are packaging coatings,
protective coatings and
wood finishes. Most PTF contractors,
specialist advisers and
consultants lease and
use computers, fax
machines, printers and
photocopiers. This has provided a new market
for computer companies
like Leading Edge Ltd.,
headed by Mr Tony
Edoro, the managing
director. Leading Edge is foremost in cloning
computers with parts
from diverse companies
such as US Micro-
Generation, IBM Direct,
Merisel and Gateway. According to Mr Edoro, a
widely experienced
computer systems
engineer, the advent of
PTF has been good for
Leading Edge. The company's turnover has
grown from N50m in
1995 to well over
N100m in 1997. In a country dogged by
lack of transparency, PTF
is the first, and perhaps
the only public
institution in Nigeria to
publish its annual accounts. Last year,
when he presented the
annual report and
accounts of 1996, Gen.
Buhari promised to
present the 1997 accounts before the end
of the first quarter of
1998. He fulfilled that
promise. The 1997 account of PTF
shows that it disbursed
N24.3bn on roads,
N21.2bn on security,
N7.8bn on health, and
N3bn on other projects. Other disbursements
include N2.2bn on water
supply, N936m on food
supply and N476m on
education. It realised a
total of N1.049bn from various investment
activities. Reviewing the success
story of PTF, Gen. Buhari
said: "We have
consolidated our
execution of the take-off
projects for the previous year and increased our
intervention within the
sectors. There is no
doubt that the years
ahead will witness even
more intervention, as reports of some of the
studies commissioned
are received and project
execution commenced." The fund has embarked
on community
education to sensitise
and enlighten
communities of its
activities. The idea is to bring recipients closer to
the objectives of the
fund, so that they can
participate in project
identification and
selection as well as eventual PTF projects in
their areas. Nobody knows how
long PTF, a purely
intensive intervention
agency, will last or
whether there will be a
place for such an agency under a democratic
set
up. That decision, Gen.
Buhari said, will be up to
Nigerians. For now his
preoccupation is to
rehabilitate infrastructure and
reorientate the people
towards a new, effective
and efficient way of
executing uninflated
contracts without kickbacks and without
consuming mobilisation
fees. Said Gen. Buhari to
PTF contractors: "If you
perform well, you get a
hand shake. If you perform badly, you get a
handcuff."