Lai Mohammed Blames PDP for Laying Foundation for Nigeria’s Misery

•Says inflation a global trend 

•Opposition party replies minister, says media briefing arrogant stunt to mislead Nigerians

Chuks Okocha and Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

The federal government has lambasted the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for being the architect of the country’s economic hardship. The government alleged that the mismanagement of national resources by the opposition party at a time the economy was buoyant laid the foundation for the current woes.

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, made the accusation yesterday at a no-holds-barred press briefing in Abuja.

But in a swift reaction yesterday, PDP dismissed the press conference addressed by the minister as another anthology of lies and bogus performance claims “by the failed and rudderless All Progressives Congress (APC) administration.”

Mohammed accused the opposition of gloating that Nigerians were suffering under the present administration and indulging in misrepresentation in their desperation to return to power to complete their demolition work on the country.

“But we say that while they laid the groundwork for today’s suffering with their mismanagement of national resources at a time of plenty, we have introduced unprecedented measures to alleviate the suffering of Nigerians, especially the very vulnerable,” the minister said.

He added, “Our National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) is the biggest of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa. The N-Power benefits one million people; the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) has benefitted four million people; the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) is providing quality meals daily to 10 million primary school pupils, in addition to empowering over 100,000 cooks and the same number of small holder farmers in the local areas where the schools are located; the Household Uplifting Programme (HUP), which has the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) as its flagship intervention, provides N5,000 monthly grants to almost two million eligible households across the country, in addition benefitting from the Conditional Cash Transfers, under the directive of Mr. President to further expand the programme due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.”

Mohammed criticised PDP, which was in power from 1999 to 2015, for depriving the country of the full benefits of oil windfall at a time of rising oil prices. He said the opposition party neglected the oil industry and for many years, failed to stimulate growth in the oil industry by refusing to put in place the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), until President Muhammadu Buhari signed it into law last year. He said the law was envisaged as a tool to foster investment in the industry and delineate responsibilities to the various institutions.

The minister flayed the opposition party for going overboard and doing everything in recent times to overheat the polity and distort the achievements of the administration through misinformation about the country’s state of affairs.

He described PDP as a “hungry and desperate opposition” that did want to wait for the 2023 elections to test their popularity or acceptability at the polls.

Mohammed stated further, “Gentlemen, there is nothing wrong in having a fiery and viable opposition in a democracy. We were there before and we remain the ones to beat in terms of a determined, viable and relentless opposition.

“But, in our time, not once did we advocate the destruction of Nigeria just because we couldn’t have our way. Not once did we seek to gain power via a desperate court action. If you destroy the country you are seeking to govern, what country will you govern? Must you cut your nose to spite your face?”

Mohammed accused PDP of seeking to erase the seven years of unprecedented achievements by the Buhari administration in spite of bringing the country to its kneels in their 16 years of non-performance.

He explained, “They said they are ready to rescue Nigeria. Pray, where do kidnappers rescue their victims? These same guys who kidnapped the fortunes of their country are suddenly posing as rescuers. Caveat Emptor. Buyers Beware! Nigerians Beware!

“Gentlemen, we are not unmindful of the challenges facing this administration, either in the area of economy, security, power, etc. But we have risen stoutly to the challenges, judiciously utilising the very scarce resources that we have, and we are making an impact. Nigerians are making great sacrifices because they know that today’s difficulties are like the pangs heralding the birth of a new baby.

“Today’s pains won’t endure, but the new Nigeria that will emerge will surely do. The people on the other side say infrastructure is not important. In their derisive posturing, they ask: ‘na infrastructure we go chop?’

“But they have forgotten the role of infrastructure in economic development via higher productivity and service delivery, job creation and poverty alleviation, just to mention a few. Little wonder they frittered away the resources of the commonwealth instead of using such to develop our infrastructure during their time in the saddle.”

He lauded the Buhari administration in the areas of security, repair and completion of long abandoned roads and bridges, rehabilitation of railway projects across the country, and delivery of four new state-of-the-art airport terminals in Abuja, Kano, Lagos, and Port Harcourt. He added that the government was about to kick-start the construction of the second runway for the Abuja airport.

He said the only runway at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja, was left dilapidated until the present administration repaired it.

Mohammed noted that through the Police Trust Fund, 200 buffalo branded vehicles, bulletproof vests, protective helmets, drugs, and medical equipment as well as arms and ammunition, riot control equipment, and combat equipment were procured for the Police Special Weapon and Tactical Squad (SWAT).

The minister said Buhari had approved a 20 per cent review and upgrade of salaries for police personnel, in addition to enhanced duty tour allowance and tax waiver in the sum of N18.6 billion for junior officers to increase their take home pay.

He accused the opposition of mischief, being clever by half, and misusing statistics by comparing the prices of some foodstuffs, petrol, and diesel, among others, before 2015, with what currently prevailed.

“This misuse of statistics is clear mischief,” he insisted.

According to him, a check on the prices of foodstuffs and petrol in other countries, especially the UK and the US, would show a steep rise, indicating the increase is a global trend and not limited to any country. He said it would be disingenuous to present the price increases as a Nigerian problem.

Opposition Party Replies Minister, Says, Media Briefing Arrogant Stunt to Mislead Nigerians

However, PDP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, said the press conference addressed by Mohammed was, “Another desperate and disoriented stunt by the APC administration to divert public attention from the exposed corruption records of the APC national leadership as well as the manifest collapse of security, command and control structure under President Buhari.”

PDP said, “The APC administration in its arrogance in failure attempted again to downplay and treat with levity, the excruciating economic hardship, hunger and other life discounting experiences being faced by Nigerians daily because of severe food crisis, lingering fuel emergency, high cost of essential commodities and services, closure of schools, insecurity and mass killing, collapse of healthcare system and decayed public infrastructure under its watch. 

“It is the height of impunity and arrogance that the Minister of Information and Culture could address the media to claim that the APC government has achieved food sufficiency, particularly in rice production, when in reality, there is famine in the land with the price of food items, especially rice soaring by over 400 per cent under the APC with its ‘pyramid of lies’”

According to PDP, a bag of rice which sold for N7,500 under PDP now sells for over N30,000; a measure of beans, which sold for N350 under PDP now sells for over N1,000; a measure of garri, which sold for N120 under PDP now sells for N700, a bottle of palm oil, which sold for N250 under PDP now sells for over N1000.

PDP pointed out that a kilo of meat, which sold for N700 under its administration, now sold for N3,000; a litre of petrol, which sold for N87 under PDP, was now as high as N400 to N500, while a litre of diesel, which sold for N110 under PDP, now cost over N800.

The main opposition party slammed Mohammed for provocatively claiming that Nigerians were better off under the APC.

According to Ologunagba, Nigerians now know better, “and the question to ask is, Is your life better now in 2022 under the APC than it was in 2015 under the PDP?”

He said it was ludicrous and insensitive that “the APC government went to the media to list non-existent roads, bridges, agricultural and health projects as achievements.

“More pathetic is the APC’s attempt to claim credit for development projects initiated and implemented by successive PDP administrations, including our railways, aviation, agricultural, healthcare, education, telecommunications, banking and manufacturing sectors, among others.”

PDP said it was “laughable that the APC government is also claiming credit for critical projects in various parts of the country, which are being funded by resources mobilised by the PDP administrations under the framework of counterpart funding from international partners and bodies.”

It added, “The only legitimate achievements of the APC government include its corruption record (second most corrupt in West Africa and 154 out of 180 in Global Corruption Index), over 33 per cent unemployment rate, a weakened currency at over N500 to a dollar, N33 trillion foreign debt and still counting, and the siphoning of over N16 trillion by APC leaders.”

PDP cautioned APC to note that “its continued arrogance in failure is daily confronting and reminding Nigerians of the statement made by one of its founding members, the late Prince Tony Momoh in April 2016 and the consequences are better imagined.”