Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, on Thursday, slammed detractors who have taken the ‘‘ full-time job’’ of twisting the comments made by government officials.
Mohammed made the statement following the ruthless reactions that trailed President Muhammadu Buhari’s recent comment that the young Nigerian population always sit and do nothing and expect everything for free.
Speaking in Umuahia, Abia State, at the Annual General Meeting of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, the minister graded President Buhari high in his administration’s efforts of revamping the country’s economy and tackling insecurity and corruption.
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Mohammed’s address at the AGM reads: “Despite the verifiable and giant strides recorded by this administration, the naysayers have remained unrelenting in their efforts at distracting the government and misleading the people into believing that the government has achieved nothing.
“Some commentators in the Social Media have now made it their full-time job to twist the remarks and comments made by public officials in order to malign those officials or cast aspersions on them. We are not unaware that this hatchet job has scaled up in view of the forthcoming general elections.
“Let me say that contrary to the fake news being circulated on the Social Media, Nigeria is in safe hands and making steady progress, especially in revamping the economy, tackling insecurity and fighting corruption – the three cardinal programmes of the Buhari Administration
“This Administration’s achievements should be evaluated against the background of the tough challenges that it has faced since coming into office on 29 May 2015.
“When the Administration came into office, there was a backlog of pensions, which ran into billions of Naira in many states, contractors had abandoned sites across the country because they were being heavily owed, there was a dearth of infrastructure, power generation was 2,690 Megawatts, it was to the knowledge of Nigerians that illegal money running into Billions were being paid as ‘fuel subsidies’.
“No doubt, the general insecurity being experienced in many parts of the country then negatively impacted on the socio-economic activities of our people especially in the North-East.
“Today, this ugly trend is being reversed, and the results are showing: Foreign reserves is now over $47b, the highest level in four years, inflation has fallen for 18 consecutive months to about 13%, 108 billion Naira has been saved from removal of maintenance fees payable to banks before Treasury Single Account (TSA), the nation is being saved 24.7 billion Naira monthly with the full implementation of the TSA and the elimination of ghost workers has saved the nation 120 billion Naira.
“With improved macro-economic indicators, capital inflow is on the rise, reaching $1.8 billion in the second quarter of 2017, which is almost double the figure of $908 million in the first quarter of the same period, Nigeria’s stock market is one of the best-performing in the world, delivering returns in excess of 40 percent.
“Nigeria jumped 24 places on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business ranking, and earned a place on the List of Top 10 Reformers in the world.
“The Administration’s Agricultural Revolution is a huge success, with agriculture export up year-on-year by 25%, rice import from Thailand dropping 644,000 Metric Tonnes to 22,000MT and rice farmers growing from 5 million to 12.3 million.”
How has all these affected the lives of those at the grass root.?
1. 50Naira bike is now 100Naira for same distance
2. Pure water of 5Naira is now 10Naira
3. Rice that used to be sold for 6000 Naira is now 12500 Naira within my location.
4. Fare to Ibadan that used to be 700 Naira is now 1200Naira
5. Power tariff has been increased and yet the state of power supply is still as terrible as before.
6.Lawlessness is still the same as it were. We read of Judges, lawyers that have Rolls-Royce in there houses alarming sum of money in their houses and accounts. Today they are free without any court case.
7. Claiming insurgency/ killings has stopped? What about Benue, Nassarawa and Taraba.
Lai Mohammed you make me laugh. You should be staged at AY show for comedy.
If more has been achieved how has it impacted on the lower level Nigerians. Leadership is settings policies that translates to profit for all and not some. You don’t pay for fuel but I do. You have convenience allowance but most of those that voted you in don’t. Yet the policies you created is what is what poses inconvenience on the uncomfortable masses. Rule with your heart not with your head. That’s the first step to leadership. By the way, I am not lazy and I am proud of my job, my finance, my family, my Nation and above all my life.