LAI Mohammed, minister of Information and Culture, reacting to the criticism of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, said the former president must have been too busy to notice improvement in the nation’s economy.

Obasanjo, had in a special press statement published on Tuesday, January 23, asked President Muhammadu Buhari not to seek re-election because of his poor state of health and because he had not been able to deliver on his promises, especially on  Nigeria’s economy.

This prompted Mohammed, after the Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting to issue a statement to enumerate some of the achievements of the Buhari administration in almost three years.

He said: “For the record, Chief Obasanjo is a patriot, and he has proven this time and time again. We appreciate what he said concerning the Administration’s performance in two out of the three key issues that formed the plank of its campaign: Fighting corruption and tackling insurgency. Specifically, the former President said President Buhari must be given credit for his achievement so far in these two areas. We thank him for this.

“Apparently, the former president believes that the Administration does not deserve a pass mark in the area of the economy, which is the third of our three-pronged campaign promises.

“We have no doubt that in the face of massive challenges in this area, this Administration has availed itself creditably. We believe that Chief Obasanjo, because of his very busy schedule, may not have been fully availed of developments in the government’s efforts to revamp the economy, which was battered by the consequences of over-dependence on a commodity as well as unprecedented pillaging of the treasury.”

According to the minister, most of the indices by which an economy is measured have shown that the country is doing very well. Besides, he argued that Nigeria would not have exited recession through a mere order or if the administration had not made use of ”good Nigerians” who could help.

Nevertheless, he said the administration was making steady progress in its determined efforts to revamp the nation’s economy with the results showing in areas such as foreign reserves which “peaked at $40b, the highest level in about four years, and up from $24 billion just a year ago;” falling in inflation rate for 11 months consecutive months and standing at 15.37% as at December 2017; implementation of the Treasury Single Account, TSA, which has stopped the hemorrhaging of the treasury, thereby saving about N108 billion Naira has been saved from removal of maintenance fees payable to banks, pre-TSA; elimination of ghost workers has saved the nation 120 billion Naira; capital inflows of about 1.8 billion dollars in the second quarter of 2017 almost double the $908 million in the first quarter, among others.

He said the positive indices might not have immediately impacted positively on Nigerians, but Nigerians would definitely get a new lease of life a short while from now.

“This is because the good news from the agricultural sector, which is recording a bumper harvest, will bring down the cost of foodstuffs, especially such staple as rice, and our massive Social Investment Programme will ease the pain of the most vulnerable in the society,” Mohammed said.

He maintained that the Buhari administration was mindful of the enormity of the challenges facing the Nigeria, but it was up to the task. “We have taken the bull by the horns, and long-suffering Nigerians will begin to experience a new lease of life as our efforts yield fruits. We will not go into a state of funk for whatever reason,” he said.

On the Herders/Farmers’ clashes, he said the administration was determined to end the crisis resulting from this once and for all, not minding the fact that the clashes predated the administration. “We urge Nigerians to have faith in the Administration’s ability to resolve the crisis, and to watch out for concrete measures in this regard,” he said.

On whether or not Buhari should run for another term, he said, indeed, a lot of Nigerians had been urging the president to run again, but the administration viewed the matter as a mere distraction for the president at this point in time. “This is because Mr. President spends every waking hour tackling the enormous challenges facing the nation, most of which were bequeathed to his Administration by successive past Administrations. He is committed to fulfilling the mandate given to him by Nigerians in 2015. And that’s where we are right now!” he said.

In any case, whatever the motive behind Obasanjo’s message, Mohammed said the Presidency had no reason to believe that the former president had any sinister motive “beyond the well-being of the nation in issuing his special press statement. We have also taken his admonition in good faith, and we thank him most sincerely for taking time off his busy schedule to pen such a long statement,” the minister said.

– Jan. 24 2018 @ 18:21 GMT