No imminent war, crisis in Nigeria – Lai Mohammed

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed
says there is no imminent war or crisis in Nigeria and the country
is in competent hands under the leadership of President Muhammadu
Buhari.

The Minister stated this during an interactive session with a
cross section of Nigerian community and members of staff of the
Nigerian Embassy in Madrid, Spain.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the Minister is in
Madrid for the signing of Agreement between Nigeria and the United
Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) on the hosting of
Conference of UNWTO Commission for Africa.

The Conference of the African Ministers of Tourism and global
tourism players with the theme “Tourism Statistics, a Catalyst for
Development” is scheduled for June 4 to June 6 in Abuja.

Mohammed said that contrary to negative narratives being read in
the social media and the internet, there was “absolutely no cause
for alarm and the nation is not in any form of imminent war”.

He said, specifically, that the challenge of herders and farmers
clashes in the country was neither ethnic nor religious but as a
result of global environmental and economic realities.

Mohammed stressed that the development was not new to the
country and the government was committed to addressing the
challenge.

He said some people were, however, for their personal agenda and
gains, trying to bring in religious and ethnic sentiments to what
was happening.

“Do not be surprised that the naysayers have invested billions
of Naira to promote instability, ethic wrangling and
misunderstanding.

“But I want you to put your minds at rest that there is no war
in Nigeria, there is no imminent war, there is no ethnic battle or
religious conflict

“The Nigeria I left behind is a country where people,
irrespective of where they come from, live together in harmony and
government is alive to its responsibilities.

“We are not saying that there are no problems at all in Nigeria,
there is no country where there is no problem including Spain
here.

“A couple of month ago, we know that separatism raised its ugly
head here in Spain and the whole world watched the development.

“There is nothing new happening in our country, it is a
reflection of our plural values and we will continue to address
them,” he said.

Mohammed said that the Administration was on the right path
delivering on its electoral promises especially in revamping the
economy, tackling insecurity and fighting corruption.

He said that in assessing the performance of the Administration
people should do so in the context of what it inherited in 2015 and
where the country is now.

“Today our foreign reserves has gone up from 24 billion dollars
to 42 billion dollars and this is the highest level in the last
four years.

“Inflation has been brought down in the last months.

“Before we came, Treasury Single Account (TSA) was not
implemenred and people put money in different accounts, we were
losing about N108 billion to bank charges

“Today, I am glad to say that with the implementation of TSA, we
save monthly N24 billion from charges and about N120 billion from
ghost workers,” he said.

The Minister said that because of the discipline of the
administration, it got the country out of recession and the Nigeria
stock market had been adjudged one of the best performing in the
world.

The minister disclosed that as at December last year, the
Federal Government has given about N1.9 trillion as bail out to
states.

He said many of the states had been so poorly managed that they
could not pay the salaries of their workers which necessitated the
intervention of the federal government.

The Minister told the meeting that the Administration’
agricultural revolution is moving Nigeria close to self-sufficiency
in many staples, especially rice.

He said the Home-Grown School Feeding Programme had created jobs
for 61,352 cooks, and it is providing 6.4million school children in
33,981 schools across 20 states with one meal a day.

Mohammed said the administration inherited power generation of
2690 MW even when over 16 billion dollar had been spent on power
reforms.

He said with the efforts of the government, power generation has
increased to 7,000 megawatts and the dministration’s is embarking
on a massive infrastructural renewal.

Mohammed said that Boko Haram had been massively degraded and
the suicide attacks by the hitherto emboldened group were act of
defeat and cowardice.

He said the group leader, Abubakar Shekau had to disguise as a
woman to escape when the heat was too much for him from the
military in Sambisa.

Fielding questions from the audience, the Minister assured that
the government would address issues of Diaspora voting, illegal
deportation of Nigerians among others.

The host of the event and the new Nigeria Ambassador to Spain,
Mrs Susan Folarin thanked the Minister and his entourage for the
visit and holding the interactive session. (NAN)

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed
says there is no imminent war or crisis in Nigeria and the country
is in competent hands under the leadership of President Muhammadu
Buhari.

The Minister stated this during an interactive session with a
cross section of Nigerian community and members of staff of the
Nigerian Embassy in Madrid, Spain.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the Minister is in
Madrid for the signing of Agreement between Nigeria and the United
Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) on the hosting of
Conference of UNWTO Commission for Africa.

The Conference of the African Ministers of Tourism and global
tourism players with the theme “Tourism Statistics, a Catalyst for
Development” is scheduled for June 4 to June 6 in Abuja.

Mohammed said that contrary to negative narratives being read in
the social media and the internet, there was “absolutely no cause
for alarm and the nation is not in any form of imminent war”.

He said, specifically, that the challenge of herders and farmers
clashes in the country was neither ethnic nor religious but as a
result of global environmental and economic realities.

Mohammed stressed that the development was not new to the
country and the government was committed to addressing the
challenge.

He said some people were, however, for their personal agenda and
gains, trying to bring in religious and ethnic sentiments to what
was happening.

“Do not be surprised that the naysayers have invested billions
of Naira to promote instability, ethic wrangling and
misunderstanding.

“But I want you to put your minds at rest that there is no war
in Nigeria, there is no imminent war, there is no ethnic battle or
religious conflict

“The Nigeria I left behind is a country where people,
irrespective of where they come from, live together in harmony and
government is alive to its responsibilities.

“We are not saying that there are no problems at all in Nigeria,
there is no country where there is no problem including Spain
here.

“A couple of month ago, we know that separatism raised its ugly
head here in Spain and the whole world watched the development.

“There is nothing new happening in our country, it is a
reflection of our plural values and we will continue to address
them,” he said.

Mohammed said that the Administration was on the right path
delivering on its electoral promises especially in revamping the
economy, tackling insecurity and fighting corruption.

He said that in assessing the performance of the Administration
people should do so in the context of what it inherited in 2015 and
where the country is now.

“Today our foreign reserves has gone up from 24 billion dollars
to 42 billion dollars and this is the highest level in the last
four years.

“Inflation has been brought down in the last months.

“Before we came, Treasury Single Account (TSA) was not
implemenred and people put money in different accounts, we were
losing about N108 billion to bank charges

“Today, I am glad to say that with the implementation of TSA, we
save monthly N24 billion from charges and about N120 billion from
ghost workers,” he said.

The Minister said that because of the discipline of the
administration, it got the country out of recession and the Nigeria
stock market had been adjudged one of the best performing in the
world.

The minister disclosed that as at December last year, the
Federal Government has given about N1.9 trillion as bail out to
states.

He said many of the states had been so poorly managed that they
could not pay the salaries of their workers which necessitated the
intervention of the federal government.

The Minister told the meeting that the Administration’
agricultural revolution is moving Nigeria close to self-sufficiency
in many staples, especially rice.

He said the Home-Grown School Feeding Programme had created jobs
for 61,352 cooks, and it is providing 6.4million school children in
33,981 schools across 20 states with one meal a day.

Mohammed said the administration inherited power generation of
2690 MW even when over 16 billion dollar had been spent on power
reforms.

He said with the efforts of the government, power generation has
increased to 7,000 megawatts and the dministration’s is embarking
on a massive infrastructural renewal.

Mohammed said that Boko Haram had been massively degraded and
the suicide attacks by the hitherto emboldened group were act of
defeat and cowardice.

He said the group leader, Abubakar Shekau had to disguise as a
woman to escape when the heat was too much for him from the
military in Sambisa.

Fielding questions from the audience, the Minister assured that
the government would address issues of Diaspora voting, illegal
deportation of Nigerians among others.

The host of the event and the new Nigeria Ambassador to Spain,
Mrs Susan Folarin thanked the Minister and his entourage for the
visit and holding the interactive session. (NAN)