Minister of information and culture, Mr. Lai Mohammed, has said contrary
to speculations by naysayers, President Muhammadu Buhari is putting in all
efforts to put Nigeria back on its feet.
Mohammed alleged that naysayers who were hoping to override the string of
achievements of the administration were spending huge amounts of money to
distort the situation in Nigeria and have taken to social media to spread
fake news.
The minister spoke at a mini town hall meeting he organised for members of
staff of the Nigerian embassy in Berlin, Germany and a cross-section of
Nigerians residing in the European country.
He was in Berlin to attend a meeting of African tourism ministers, on the
sidelines of the international travel trade fair in the German capital.
Mohammed, in a statement by Segun Adeyemi, his spokesman, urged Nigerians
both home and in the diaspora, to ensure they have access to authentic
information by downloading the FGNiAPP on their hand-held devices.
Contrary to the fake news being peddled in the social media by the
naysayers, President Muhammadu Buhari is putting Nigeria back on its
feet, Mohammed said.
That is why Nigerians at home and abroad must ensure they have access to
authentic information.
One way is to download the FGNiAPP on their hand-held devices. It is free.
Mohammed further said the Nigerian economy is on a steady growth after
which he reeled out some statistics to back his position.
The economy is on a steady growth, as attested to be by the latest report
from the National Bureau of Statistics, he said.
The economy attracted 12.2 billion dollars in foreign investments in
2017, up from $5.38 billion in 2016.That represents 138 percent increase.
The economy further consolidated its recovery from recession with GDP
growing by 1.92 percent in Q4 2017, compared to 1.40 percent in Q3 2017
and a contraction of -1.73 percent in Q4 2016;.
This means the economy ended 2017 with a growth of 0.82 per cent compared
to a contraction of -1.58 percent in 2016.
GDP growth in Q4 2017 was driven by growth in crop production, crude
production and natural gas, metal ores, construction, transportation and
storage, trade, electricity and gas production,.
These are indications that the administrations diversification effort is
working.
Mohammed also blamed the clashes between farmers and herdsmen on
environmental factors, rather than ethnic or religious issues.
He said whereas, Nigerias population in 1963 was about 48 million, it is
now about 180 million with the countrys land mass remaining the same.
He also said the Lake Chad, which used to provide water and other
resources to more than 30 million people in four countries including
Nigeria in the early 1960s, had shrunk by about 90 percent, from 25,000 to
2500 square kilometers.
These and other reasons, like desertification, have altered the resource
landscape, heightened competition for dwindling resources and raised the
possibility of clashes between farmers and herders.
Mohammed, however, assured Nigerians of the federal governments
commitment to finding lasting solution to the clashes, noting that the
establishment of ranches was one sure way of reducing such clashes.