Aisah Buhari’s bashing of FG’s social investment projects sparks controversy

Wife of President Muhammadu Buhari, Aisha, has stirred up a controversy with her Saturday’s bashing of the Federal Government’s social investment projects.
She practically returned into the trenches in Abuja, where she described as a failure the N500bn Social Investment Programme the Buhari government.
She also rubbished a $16m mosquito net project just as she warned the minister of health over a N250bn health intervention said to have been recently launched.
As a result, she has become the subject of debate on several platforms, especially online.
On Facebook, for instance, some people have been hailing her, while the opposition are riding on it to mock Buhari.
While some yet said her critic’s posture was not reliable, saying she had campaigned for her husband’s re-election despite the fact that she had sharply criticised the administration, others said she was a good material for a key role in Buhari’s next government.
Noting that the N500bn project was poorly implemented, she said many people in the North did not benefit from it.
She cited the cases of her home state, Adamawa, and Kano, a highly-populated northern state, as another example where she believed the programme failed, despite the huge funds the Federal Government budgeted for it.
The SIP is domiciled in the Office of Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, but its direct implementation is done by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Social Investment, Mrs Maryam Uwais.At the event held in the Aso Villa, she said, “Concerning the N500bn voted for SIP, that was part of 2015 campaigns where they promised to give out N10,000, feed pupils in primary schools and give N5,000 to the poorest of the poor.
“The SSA to the President on Social Investment is a lady from Kano and I am sure that my husband decided to put somebody from Kano because of the population and political impact it made. I have never asked how the money is being used or is being given out. I met Barrister (one of the President’s aides on SIP) once and he promised me that for my state (Adamawa), we should get 30,000 women to be given N10,000. Up till now, I haven’t heard from him.
“I don’t want to raise the alarm that my state does not benefit from it, where the SGF (Secretary to the Government of the Federation) came from, I kept quiet because I don’t want people to say that I talk too much. Recently, I saw a 74-year-old man selling petty things in Kano, I asked him how much is his capital, he told me between N3,000 and N4,000. Don’t forget that we have campaigned to give the poorest of the poor N5,000 every month.
“So, I don’t know where is the social investment… Maybe, it worked out in some states. In my own state, only a local government benefited out of the 22. I didn’t ask what happened and I don’t want to know, but it failed woefully in Kano, it’s not a good sign and it’s not a good thing.
“We have a lot of women that do business locally due to the cultural thing in the North, they are at home doing their business. Some are millionaires, some have thousands of naira, they need the assistance but they do not get it. Most northern women do not belong to any market association.
“I was expecting the N500bn to be utilised in different methods in the North for the aim to be achieved. I don’t know the method they used, but most of the northern states do not get it. My state does not get it.”
“On the mosquito net deal, she said, “I have heard about mosquito nets, Nigeria paid its counterpart fund, $16m. I asked them to give my own share of the net to send it to my village people. I didn’t get it.
“They have spent $16m in buying mosquito nets, I did not get it, maybe some people have got it. But I feel that, that’s my personal opinion, $16m is enough to fumigate mosquitoes in Nigeria. That’s my opinion.”