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Tag: Lai Mohammed

  • Buhari is victim of his own transparency, says Lai Mohammed

    Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, on Wednesday said that, President Muhammadu Buhari, had become a victim of his own transparency in relation to his current vacation abroad.

    The Minister said this while addressing State House Correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on the eagerness of Nigerians to know Buhari’s health status.

    According to him, the President is hale and hearty and absolutely in no danger.

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    “I can say it without any equivocation, Mr President is well, he is hale and he is hearty; no question about that.

    “I want to assure you, Mr President is well and he is in absolutely no danger.

    “Mr. President, like I said elsewhere, is probably a victim of his own transparency.

    “He was going on leave, he did what the constitution said he should do, transmitted it to the National Assembly and Acting President was put in place.

    “And he said `while I am on leave, I am going to conduct some medical tests’ which many, or all of us do without announcing it.’’

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    Mohammed said it was surprising that in less than six hours after Buhari got to London, he was pronounced dead by some people.

    He noted with regret that even those who saw the President climb the Aircraft in Abuja claimed that he was flown by an Ambulance.

    The Minister recalled that the Acting President had spoken with Buhari on a daily basis and had re assured Nigerians about his talking with Buhari.

    “I can assure you that the President is well he is hale and hearty and there is absolutely no cause for concern,’’ Mohammed declared.

    Reacting to insinuations that the Ministry of Information ought to be releasing hourly bulletins on the President’s health condition, Mohammed said there was no need for that.

    “Mr President is not ill, he is not in hospital and there is no reason to give anybody any bulletin about his health, pure and simple,’’ he said.

    The minister noted that all organs of government were working with the Ministers carrying out their normal duties across the country noting that there was no cause for alarm.

  • No need to be giving bulletin on Buhari’s health status – Lai Mohammed

    The Federal Government has declared that President Muhammadu Buhari is not in any danger health-wise.

    The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, declared this Wednesday while fielding questions from State House correspondents after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) presided over by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo.

    According to the minister, President Muhammadu Buhari is “well, hale and hearty.”

    Mohammed said if Buhari were not well, his cabinet members would not have been easily going about their normal duties.

    President Buhari on Sunday extended his 10-day vacation in the United Kingdom in order to complete and receive the results of a series of tests recommended by his doctors.

    The information minister emphasised today that there was no cause for concern over the president’s health.

    He said Buhari was not in any hospital and that there was no need “to be giving bulletin” on his health status.

  • FG has no plans to Islamise Nigeria – Lai Mohammed

    FG has no plans to Islamise Nigeria – Lai Mohammed

    The Federal Government has declared that it is difficult to Islamise Nigeria by any government, saying that it has no hidden agenda to achieve such plan.

    The Minister of Information and Culture, Alh. Lai Mohammed made declaration on Monday at the North-Central Edition of Town Hall Meeting held in Ilorin, Kwara state.

    He said that the alleged Islamisation of Nigeria under the current Administration is totally false and should be perceived in its entirety as a campaign of calumny, saying that the secular nature of Nigeria’s Constitution makes the issue of religious dominance and impunity improbable.

    Mohammed who condemned the action of those preaching religious intolerance stressed that it was difficult to Islamise Nigeria and those claiming the current Federal Government was plotting to Islamise the country were not only political but were also working towards diverting attention from the ongoing anti-corruption crusade.

    ‘‘The media has been increasingly awash with incendiary statements that seem designed to pitch the adherents of the two prominent religions in the country, Christians and Muslims against one another.

    ‘‘Such fallacies like the Islamization of Nigeria, the killing of Christians by Muslims, the labelling of Nigeria as the most dangerous place for Christians in the world can only serve one purpose: trigger a religious war.

    ‘‘Needless to say that no nation ever survives a religious war. Those who are making these allegations know that they are not true, but they have found in religion another tool to demonize the government of the day, divert attention from the government’s anti-corruption stance and create undue tension in the polity.

    ‘‘It is also important to note that the underlying principle of religious conflict may not be purely religious, but more often than not coloured with political connotations as vividly depicted in the case of the terrorist group Boko Haram.

    ‘‘And more often than not, conflicts between Muslims and Christians are fuelled by political motivations, ethnic differences, extremism, intolerance and terrorism.’’ On achievements of the administration, the Minister said, “a lot has been achieved by this administration, despite the challenges that we have faced since assuming office.

    “But whatever has been achieved in all spheres will pale into insignificance if there is no peace in the country. And there is no bigger threat to the peace and unity of our country today than religion-coated incendiary messages, which are being carelessly sent out there by some religious, political and opinion leaders.

    “Make no mistake about it, there have been conflicts between adherents of the two major religions in certain parts of the country.

    To now extrapolate from that to say Nigeria is the most dangerous place for Christians in the world is a disservice to Nigeria and an overkill.

    ‘‘What those who are pushing this negative narrative about Nigeria do not know is that if they succeed in giving Nigeria a bad name in the comity of nations, they too will not escape the consequences that will result therefore,’’ he warned.

  • Calling me “Lie Mohammed’’ is price I pay for serving Nigeria – Minister

    The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, says he reads comments of people who claim not to believe what he says and coin his first name as “Lie’’.

    The minister stated this while responding to questions when he visited Daar Communications Plc on Friday in Abuja.

    He said that such comments were the mindset of the people and a price he had to pay for serving the nation.

    “People just have a mindset that whatever Lai Mohammed says cannot be true, but nobody has ever come out to say that I said `Y’ and it was `Z’ that happened.

    “For me, I will remain focused because it is a price you pay for serving your country.

    “I also see this as a deliberate strategy to whittle me down, but I must remain focused and will not be distracted,’’ he said.

    Mohammed said that some people found it difficult to separate him from “Lai Mohammed as All Progressive Congress (APC) spokesperson and Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information’’.

    “I believe sincerely that the last election was fought very bitterly and I was largely the face of the party and I kept asking them to fight me on facts, not on emotions.

    “Give me one thing that I have said which is not true.

    “There is a Yoruba proverb that says that you can only wake up somebody who is sleeping, you cannot wake up a fellow who is pretending to fall asleep,’’ he said.

    He recalled when he led local and foreign journalists on tour of the North-East on Dec. 5, 2015 and he told the world that Boko Haram war had been technically defeated.

    Mohammed said that when he made the claim nobody believed him but that today he had been vindicated.

    He said that all the schools that were closed then in the North-East had been reopened and that all the territory occupied by the terrorists had been reclaimed by the military.

    He added that recently, he led a team that flew over Sambisa forest unhindered and without traces of Boko Haram terrorists.

    “However, when you are fighting insurgency, it is not like regular war that you win at once, there will still be suicide bombing.

    “There will still be ambush but that does not mean that we have not won the war,’’ he said.

     

    NAN

  • Information from social media will tear up Nigeria if…Lai Mohammed

    Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, says the country is under siege of disinformation and fake news that can bring the country on her knees if not checked.

    The minister stated this on Friday in Abuja when he paid a working visit to the headquarters of DAAR Communication Plc, owners of African Independent Television (AIT) and Raypower FM.

    Mohammed said that the dangerous trend of disinformation and fake news championed by social media and which the traditional media are “unfortunately feeding on, could tear the fabric of society, if not checked.

    “There was a time when the spoken and the written words were not challenged or questioned, but today it is not so.

    “About 50 per cent of what we read in the social media is not true but unfortunately even when it is not credible, it goes viral and people believe the fake stories.

    “My greatest problem and worry is with the traditional media, which are latching on the same fake news and disinformation.

    “I am worried because it affects the credibility of the media itself and once the media is no longer believed by the people, then it has serious consequences on the society,’’ he said.

    The minister recalled the recent disinformation on President Muhammadu Buhari who is on vacation but fabricated news on his death and health went viral.

    “What happened last week is quite worrisome as Mr President left for vacation.

    “Within 12 hours of leaving the country, news that he has died went viral, later it changed to that he was critically ill.

    “This actually heated the polity and even the rebuttal of the spokespersons to the President and myself, did little to dampen the rumour,’’ he said.

    He appealed to traditional media not to join force with the purveyors of fake news but ensure that the unity and security of the country become paramount consideration when weighing what news to send out.

    The Executive Chairman of DAAR Communication, Raymond Dokpesi Jnr. said the issue raised by the minister was very pertinent to media and journalism generally.

    “The emergence of fake news driven primarily by social media is indeed a global phenomenon,

    “It behoves on us the traditional media to reaffirm our commitment to the highest ethic and standard of journalism, to investigate and fact-check stories before we go to press.”

    He said AIT and Raypower, over the years have been absolutely committed to the highest standard of journalism.

    Dokpesi said they had been looking forward to the minister’s visit.

    “You are our own minister. After the whole cycle of electioneering, there must be the need to build bridges and move from political mood to governance mood,’’ he said..

     

    NAN

  • We didn’t envisage the level of corruption we met in office – Lai Mohammed

    The Minister of Information, culture and tourism, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC didn’t envisage the height of corruption it met in office when it came on board on May 2015.

    Mohammed however noted that despite the rottenness in virtually all spheres of public life, the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration has drastically reduced the level of madness, indiscipline and impunity in Nigeria.

    The Minister also insisted that the change the party promised Nigerians was already manifesting. In his words: “There is a change today in the way people view corruption than the way they use to view it before. You will never live your flamboyant lifestyle again.

    “In 2014 or thereabout when the former President went to Kenya, there were about 100 private jets that went with him.

    “Let’s look at it, number one, we promised change and that change has come. There is change today from impunity to accountability and it means a lot. There is a change today from corruption to integrity, it means a lot.

    “What we did not know was the level of dirt and rottenness, the level of dirt and corruption is what we did not get. We knew things were bad but we did not know things were this bad.

    “We did not know before we came in that there was no savings at all.

    “Also, we did not know before we came in, the madness and scale of indiscipline and impunity.

    “It doesn’t matter what vision you have but if you don’t have the money to execute it is as if you are doing nothing.

    “So if anybody says we are overwhelmed, yes we are overwhelmed but not by the work but by the level of rottenness and we want to clean this rottenness and this is what we have been doing,” Mohammed stated.

     

  • NBC to investigate Big Brother Nigeria brouhaha

    The social media has been awash with the news of Big Brother Nigeria being hosted and shot in South Africa. The issue has generated massive public outrage and online debates.

    The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has directed the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to investigate the circumstances surrounding the shooting of Big Brother Nigeria in South Africa.

    In a statement obtained by TheNewsGuru, the Minister said the NBC should determine whether Multi-Choice, by shooting the show in South Africa,has breached the Nigerian Broadcasting Code in any way, as well as the issue of possible deceit, since the viewing public was never told that the event would be staged outside Nigeria.

    ”As a country of laws, only the outcome of the investigation will determine our next line of action,” he said.

    Alhaji Mohammed said while concerned Nigerians have bombarded his office with calls to complain about what they regard as an anomaly (of shooting outside the country a show meant for Nigerians), they should remain calm while the NBC investigates the issue and submits its findings.

  • Negotiations to free Chibok girls ongoing – Lai Mohammed

    The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed on Tuesday reassured that the negotiations for the release of other Chibok girls in captivity were on-going.

    The minister disclosed this at the Air Force Base in Yola in a briefing to conclude a day and night rounds of search sortie of the missing girls to Sambisa.

    Mohammed; the Minister of Defence, Brig-Gen. Mansur Dan-Alli (rtd); the convener of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) group, Mrs. Obiageli Ezekwesili; as well as selected local and foreign journalists participated in the search mission.

    Mohammed said that the success recorded by the military in the theatre of war was helping the negotiation because of the carrot and stick approach of government to ending insurgency.

    He recalled that a meeting was recently held which was a near success and added that the government would not rest on its oars in ensuring a safe return of all the missing girls and others in captivity.

    “The negotiations are still on, but unfortunately unlike the search operations, we cannot take you along to the negotiation table.

    “I want to assure you that these negotiations are going on but they are very complicated and delicate and shift from time to time,’’ he said.

    The minister commended the military for the victories recorded in various operations at decimating the insurgents particularly in Sambisa.

    He noted that the capture of Camp Zairo in Sambisa, which is the headquarters and stronghold of the insurgent was very crucial to defeating the terrorists.

    The minister stressed that the proportion of the camp to the size of the forest notwithstanding, ”the capture is a big victory for the military

    “Camp Zairo might occupy probably one kilometre out of 60,000 kilometres expanse of Sambisa, but it is so crucial to us in this war.

    “It is like imagining that there is a war and the Villa is captured. That is the essence of camp Zairo.

    “It is not the extent of physical expanse but that we struck at the very heart of insurgency and it does not mean the end of the campaign in Sambisa forest,’’ he said.

    Mohammed commended the Air Force for their professionalism and for deployment of modern technology in their operations.

    The minister also commended the Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Sadique Abubakar for initiating the search mission.

    He added that it served its objective of participating and better understanding of the efforts of the military in fighting insurgency.

    Speaking on casualty figure of his men, Abubakar said they were very lucky in terms of suffering casualties on their air operations.

    “First and foremost, the enemy does not have air assets and we take training very seriously.

    “We do everything possible to ensure capacity development of our pilots and we make judicious use of the personnel that are on ground,’’ he said.

    He thanked the minister, the BBOG delegation, the journalists and others that participated in the exercise.

  • Rice will remain expensive for the foreseeable future – Yemi Osinbajo

    The deputy president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Yemi Osinbajo has revealed that rice, the staple food of most Nigerians will remain expensive for the foreseeable future.

    Osinbajo made this revelation when a Nigerian citizen challenged him on the soaring price of the staple food in the country while he was on an unscheduled visit to Mpape mechanic village in Abuja yesterday.

    The prices of staple foods and everyday consumables have continued to soar high recent times in Nigeria, and in the midst of dwindling price of crude oil and the ever increasing exchange rate. With so many factors working together, the Nigerian economy has pronged into recession.

    Although, government representatives have envisioned that Nigeria would be lifted off recession in the New Year 2017, economic analysts have said there is no light in the horizon yet.

    Deputy President Yemi Osinbajo has probably buttressed the stand of the analysts and he has said the price of rice will continue to remain the way it is until the country reaches self-sufficiency with rice production.

    At the unscheduled visit of the deputy president to the Mpape area of Abuja, the Nigerian whose name could not be confirmed as at the time of filing this report, queried the deputy president saying, “With the way things are going, we are suffering. We don’t really know. We thought that as you people are coming in, we are going to rejoice. But now, we are suffering”.

    “How can we buy a bag of rice for 19,000 or 18,000 naiar?” the young man who might be in his late twenties queried.

    “We cannot afford that; and there is no work we do here. So, the thing is paining us,” he added.

    In response, the deputy to President Muhammadu Buhari flanked by the Nigerian Minister of Information, Lai Muhammed, said, “Let me tell you first about this rice. You see, the thing about government is that, government is a people, flesh and blood like you and I that run the government and we must run it with sense”.

    “Look at this rice; in Kebbi, Jigawa, Kano; all those places, there are farmers. Many of them or none never had any work because all the rice was imported from China, Thailand, India, everywhere.

    “Many of the rice are old, nine years, ten years, but they bring them here, and they are cheap because they are all imported, but our farmers have not work.

    “Now, we said, we must provide work for Nigerians; Nigerians must farm. They must mill the rice, distribute the rice, locally. That is what we are trying to do now; so, hundreds of thousands of farmers in all the places where they are farming rice, millet, sorghum in Nigeria, they are producing rice now,” the deputy president added.

    Osinbajo at this point has to plead with the visibly irritated young man and the crowd he was addressing to calm down for him to conclude his rice speech.

    He continued that although the country is not producing enough rice yet, he stressed the price of rice will remain quite expensive at the interim because that is the only way the nation can make progress.

    “It will be expensive first, it cannot be cheap immediately. It will first be expensive. When it is expensive, there will be some suffering, but that is the only way by which we can make progress.

    “We can’t make progress any other way,” the deputy president concluded.

  • Corrupt politicians frustrating FG’s policies – Lai Mohammed

    …as FG launches Federal Government of Nigeria Information App (FGN IAPP)

    Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, says corrupt elements opposed to the change agenda are making government activities obscure to give the wrong impression that they are not working.

    The minister stated this on Thursday in Abuja at the launch of the Federal Government of Nigeria Information App (FGN IAPP) that is designed to provide real time information from the government to Nigerians– home and abroad.

    The minister said that the corrupt elements, in particular, had chosen to fight the government with their ill-gotten wealth, by “distorting our messages and obfuscating our activities’’.

    Mohammed noted that government had done a lot to better the lot of Nigerians and they would not allow the opposition to stifle the progress made by leaving the public space to the “naysayers’’.

    “A government that has achieved the unprecedented feat of creating 200,000 jobs in one fell swoop cannot be said to have done nothing.

    “A government that has liberated every inch of our occupied territory from Boko Haram and sent the terrorists fleeing should not be portrayed as not doing anything.

    “A government that is surely and steadily making our country self-sufficient in staples such as rice and embarking on a massive infrastructural renewal cannot be said to be doing nothing

    “A government that is boldly tackling an economic recession that was foisted on it by years of profligacy, lack of savings and a sudden crash on oil prices deserves accolades, not vilification,’’ he said.

    The minister said FGN IAPP will help to keep Nigerians and non-Nigerians better informed of the activities of the Federal Government as well as getting the necessary feedback.

    “Irrespective of where you are in the world, from today all you needed to do is to download the FGN IAPP, and you will have access to factual and real time information on the activities of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

    The minister said other value-added services of the FGN IAPP included access to the Tender Journal published twice a month to announce available government jobs.

    He said that the innovation would enable more people, irrespective of their locations, to bid for government jobs.

    Mohammed said the “Be Inspired’’ section of the App will make it possible for any Nigerian, irrespective of status, to meet top political, business, religious and other leaders.

    The minister said the App also provides a Feedback Section that allows anyone so interested to make his or her feelings known about any government policy or programmes.

    He added that those seeking government jobs could also have information about genuine vacancies in the public service.

    The minister enjoined Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora, who are interested in authentic news about the activities of the Federal Government, to take the advantage of the FGN IAPP.

    The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mrs Ayo Adesugba, said the Federal Government was underreported and the App would help to bridge the gap by providing real time information on government activities and programmes.

    Adesugba, said the App would also provide the platform to correct negative reports about the country in the foreign media in particular.

    The Chief Executive Officer of the FGN IAPP service provider, Mr Olawale Wale-Falope, said the App would be available on IOS, androids and tablets and would support rich contents, including photos and videos

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event was attended by Ministers, Directors and Heads of Parastatal Agencies in the Ministry of Information and Culture.