THE Minister of Information and Culture has reacted to former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s claim that Nigeria is becoming a failed state under the current administration, saying “those who planted the seed of insecurity” are the ones accusing President Muhammadu Buhari of failure.
He said, on assumption of office, Buhari actually prevented Nigeria from becoming a failed state after “a long stretch of rapacious and rudderless leadership.”
The Minister said this in a statement, titled, “Buhari prevented Nigeria from becoming a failed state”, signed by his Special Assistant on Media, Segun Adeyemi.
“Today, Nigeria is fast drifting to a failed and badly divided state; economically, our country is becoming a basket case and poverty capital of the world, and socially, we are firming up as an unwholesome and insecure country,” the former President had said.
But the Minister said, “Buhari came into office at a time that a swathe of the country’s territory was under occupation, a period when many Nigerian towns and cities, including the capital city of Abuja, were a playground for insurgents and a moment that the nation’s wealth had been looted dry, with little or nothing to show for the nation’s huge earnings, especially in the area of infrastructure.
“It is therefore a cruel irony that those who frittered away a great opportunity to put Nigeria on a sound socio-economic footing, at a time of financial buoyancy, and those who planted the seed of the insecurity in some parts of the country today, are the same ones pointing an accusing finger at a reformist government.”
He added, “Nigeria today faces a lot of challenges. But whatever situation the country has found itself in, things would have been much worse, but for the deft management of resources, unprecedented fight against corruption, determined battle against insurgency and banditry as well as the abiding courage of Mr. President in piloting the ship of state,
“Nigeria today is not a failed state, but a nation that is courageously tackling its challenges and building a solid infrastructure that will serve as the basis for socio-economic development, a nation that is unrelenting in battling insecurity and working hard to ensure greatest prosperity for the greatest number of people.”
He said, with 60 per cent less national income, the regime was making progress on all fronts and setting the country on the path of sustainable growth and development.
“They aggravate the national fault lines with their angry and unguarded actions and rhetoric, forgetting that while national fissures are amplified at a time of dwindling economic fortunes, what is needed to foster peace and unity is not reckless elocution but responsible and responsive leadership, the kind being offered by President Buhari,” he argued.
