Buhari has diagnosed Nigeria’s ills, will leave the country better than he met it - Lai Mohammed
Politician, businessman, public relations expert and lawyer, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, before he became minister of information was the long enduring spokesman of the opposition. He had served as spokesman of the Action Congress, the Action Congress of Nigeria, and lately the All Progressives Congress, APC. The French language graduate in this interview with Saturday Vanguard speaks on contemporary issues relating to the pace and pattern of the administration.
Excerpts.. Imagine you were the spokesman of the opposition party, what would be your assessment of this government?
Off course you don’t expect me to answer that question! I can tell you that if I were the spokesperson of the PDP today, I will do what I did as the spokesperson for ACN, for APC and AC; which is, I would address issues, I would do my homework thoroughly, I would not make any allegation that I cannot back by evidence. That is what makes the difference. It is not just about to criticise a policy but to get it right. Would you say you have delivered on your agenda two and a half years into office?
I thank God for the privilege of serving as a minister of information and culture. I can see that in under two and a half years, that this government has delivered largely on all its promises. I will start with insecurity. When we came in 2015, there were 24 local governments in this country that were under the sovereign control of Boko Haram. Today, as I speak, not one local government is under the control of Boko Haram. Boko Haram has been decapitated. Boko Haram has been thoroughly degraded; they can no longer function as a parallel army as they were doing. Before now, Boko Haram was active in Plateau State, they attacked Bauchi, Kano had a regular taste of their terror, Kaduna State was not spared, Niger State and even the Federal Capital was not spared, and not to talk of the epicentre which was Borno. But as I speak today, the military has been able t
So, where are the Chibok Girls?
You see, we took responsibility and assured the nation that we are going to free those girls and so far, we have returned 100 of those girls. You paid money for them? I say again; we did not pay anybody for anything. What we did and which we told the world was, yes; we did exchange the last batch for about five of their own commanders. When you look all over the world, what we did was international best practise. Yes, we still have more than 100 of these girls missing, and we will continue to negotiate for their release. But you must never forget that these girls had been kidnapped for over a year before this government came in and the trail had become very cold and until we came in no attempt had been made to release not even one of these girls.
Which means that we correctly diagnosed the ills of the economy and our plans are working.
You see coming out of recession is the most important step to cure your economy because when you get out of recession, then the outside world has more confidence in investing in you.
But with all your assertions to the value of the naira to the dollar has slumped under your regime from N190 to N365?
It is a pity that Nigerians have very short memory. In February this year, the value of the dollar was N520, today it is N360. But under Jonathan it was N199? But under Jonathan, we were selling oil at $100/barrel and what determines the value of your currency is your receipt. So, you can imagine that if at $100/barrel the dollar was exchanging at N190 and today we are selling at $57/barrel, so by all ramifications, we are doing much better in discipline than the Jonathan administration. The records are there to show. One of the virtues that projected Buhari to power is integrity.
But the administration has been accused of defending corrupt persons like the case of Babachir Lawal?
The president used technicalities to pooh-pooh a Senate report that indicted him.
When you suspend somebody from office… No this was before he was suspended? I know. When you suspend someone from office, can you now claim that you are supporting the same person? If Babachir remained in office, then this argument would have remained valid. But he remained in office for five months after the indictment. You think Mr. President would not do his own due diligence?
Vanguard
Excerpts.. Imagine you were the spokesman of the opposition party, what would be your assessment of this government?
Off course you don’t expect me to answer that question! I can tell you that if I were the spokesperson of the PDP today, I will do what I did as the spokesperson for ACN, for APC and AC; which is, I would address issues, I would do my homework thoroughly, I would not make any allegation that I cannot back by evidence. That is what makes the difference. It is not just about to criticise a policy but to get it right. Would you say you have delivered on your agenda two and a half years into office?
I thank God for the privilege of serving as a minister of information and culture. I can see that in under two and a half years, that this government has delivered largely on all its promises. I will start with insecurity. When we came in 2015, there were 24 local governments in this country that were under the sovereign control of Boko Haram. Today, as I speak, not one local government is under the control of Boko Haram. Boko Haram has been decapitated. Boko Haram has been thoroughly degraded; they can no longer function as a parallel army as they were doing. Before now, Boko Haram was active in Plateau State, they attacked Bauchi, Kano had a regular taste of their terror, Kaduna State was not spared, Niger State and even the Federal Capital was not spared, and not to talk of the epicentre which was Borno. But as I speak today, the military has been able t
So, where are the Chibok Girls?
You see, we took responsibility and assured the nation that we are going to free those girls and so far, we have returned 100 of those girls. You paid money for them? I say again; we did not pay anybody for anything. What we did and which we told the world was, yes; we did exchange the last batch for about five of their own commanders. When you look all over the world, what we did was international best practise. Yes, we still have more than 100 of these girls missing, and we will continue to negotiate for their release. But you must never forget that these girls had been kidnapped for over a year before this government came in and the trail had become very cold and until we came in no attempt had been made to release not even one of these girls.
Which means that we correctly diagnosed the ills of the economy and our plans are working.
You see coming out of recession is the most important step to cure your economy because when you get out of recession, then the outside world has more confidence in investing in you.
But with all your assertions to the value of the naira to the dollar has slumped under your regime from N190 to N365?
It is a pity that Nigerians have very short memory. In February this year, the value of the dollar was N520, today it is N360. But under Jonathan it was N199? But under Jonathan, we were selling oil at $100/barrel and what determines the value of your currency is your receipt. So, you can imagine that if at $100/barrel the dollar was exchanging at N190 and today we are selling at $57/barrel, so by all ramifications, we are doing much better in discipline than the Jonathan administration. The records are there to show. One of the virtues that projected Buhari to power is integrity.
But the administration has been accused of defending corrupt persons like the case of Babachir Lawal?
The president used technicalities to pooh-pooh a Senate report that indicted him.
When you suspend somebody from office… No this was before he was suspended? I know. When you suspend someone from office, can you now claim that you are supporting the same person? If Babachir remained in office, then this argument would have remained valid. But he remained in office for five months after the indictment. You think Mr. President would not do his own due diligence?
Vanguard
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