Buhari’s administration is God sent - Lai Mohammed declares

05.04.2018 22:39

The minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed, has said the President Buhari-led administration is God sent. Mohammed said this when the head of civil service of the federation paid him a courtesy visit.

- The minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed, says the federal government is working to pull back the country from the brink

- He states that despite the occasional cowardly bomb attacks by Boko Haram, the government has done a lot to reverse the trend from how it met it

- Mohammed urges civil servants to key into the policies and programmes of the administration

The minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed, has said the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration is God sent.

Mohammed said this when the head of civil service of the federation, Winifred Oyo-Ita, led a team of permanent secretaries on a courtesy visit to him, The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

He noted that the administration has achieved much in less than three years, saying: “We are proud of our records. It does not matter what the naysayers are saying.”

He added that the administration has been true and faithful to the electoral promises made to Nigerians.

Mohammed said the administration had delivered on its three-plank electoral promises of reviving the economy, fighting corruption and tackling insurgency.

He said it was unfortunate that those championing criticism of the government were the elite whose sources to easy money had been blocked by the anti-corruption policies and programmes of the government.

The minister stated that the beneficiaries of the various social investment programmes of the government were conscious of and attest to how the administration has been touching lives.

“In less than three years, we are proud of our records. It does not matter what the naysayers are saying.

“One thing they have not been able to do is to challenge the figures that we put forward on the successes we have recorded,’’ he said.

The minister insisted that that Buhari’s administration was God sent because of the level with which the previous administration mismanaged the economy.

He said there would not have been a better time for the administration to take power, considering the security situation, decay in infrastructure and level of unemployment.

The minister said the government had been working to pull back the country from the brink.

Specifically, the minister said despite the occasional cowardly bomb attacks by the Boko Haram, the government had done a lot to reverse the trend from how it met it.

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He said unlike what used to obtain, no part of the country was under the occupation of the insurgents and that there were no attacks in major cities like Abuja.

The minister said the herder/farmer clashes in the country were neither ethnic, tribal nor religious; but are as a result of climate change.

He said government was on top of the situation and would leave no stone unturned to put the challenge of farmers/herdsmen clashes under control.

The minister said the administration had recorded success in agriculture, particularly in staples like rice, and called for more subsidies for the sector from states.

On the economy, the minister said when the Buhari administration came to power in 2015, the foreign reserve was $24bn, even when oil was selling at about $120 per barrel.

He said despite the loss of almost 60 per cent in the price of crude, the government had raised the nation’s foreign reserve to $46bn.

He said the administration had successfully diversified the economy and significantly improved on Ease of Doing Business.

Mohammed urged civil servants to key into the policies and programmes of the administration.

He commended the HOSF for initiating the peer review system among the Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government.

Earlier, Oyo-Ita said the peer review system was initiated to enable permanent secretaries share ideas on service delivery in their respective organisation.

She called for improved funding for the Ministry of Information and Culture to enable it carry out its mandate of propagating government programmes and achievements.

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the release of $1 billion for the purchase of arms to aid in the fight against Boko Haram insurgency.

The Cable reports that the minister of defence, Mansur Dan-Ali, disclosed this on Wednesday, April 4, following a security meeting with the president.

He said they reviewed the security situation of the country before the president gave his approval for more equipment to be purchased.

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