Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has clarified that his comment on the economic situation being out of the control of President Muhammadu Buhari was misrepresented.

He was reacting to a story in THISDAYLIVE of this Saturday, March 12th 2016 entitled ”Economy Gone Out of Buhari’s Control, Says Lai Mohammed”.

This was contained in a statement by Mr. Segun Adeyemi, Mohammed’s Special Assistant (SA) on Information and Culture.

Although he described the report as a “complete misrepresentation of the comments” made by the minister, with Lai Mohammed denying making them, a playback of the recorded interview shows Mohammed said the situation was beyond the government’s control – considering the various forces at play.

“It is pertinent to state that at no time during the entire two-hour (radio) programme did the Honourable Minister say or suggest that the economy has gone out of the President’s control,” the SA’s statement said..."

However, the relevant portion of the statement from where our story derived is somewhat different. Below is the excerpt beginning with the question by the interviewer.

Q: The free fall of the Naira in the last three weeks has been very discomforting and a lot of people are asking a lot of questions and some people even say wow, it has never been so bad. Has government been able to discover (the source of) this untoward development?

Lai Mohammed: I think it is clear why the naira is today in a free fall. You see, what are the factors that determines the exchange of the naira? It is your export and import; your trade balance and the general economy. Unfortunately we have not been fortunate in any of these, which is about 70 percent of all our total earnings. Before now, oil was selling for about N100 per barrel; today it is about N30 per barrel. And if you look at the cost of production, it has remained about the same.

We have lost about 70 percent of all our income and not only was oil responsible for all our income, it was also responsible for about 90 percent of all our foreign exchange, which makes between 90 -80 percent of our source of foreign exchange.

And naturally there will be more pressure on the Naira and less dollars and more naira chasing the dollars and now look at the balance of trade – it is negative. What do we do with trading and how much did we buy from Britain, for instance, and how they buy from us,. Unfortunately, it is negative. We take more from them than they take from us. If a country suddenly loses about 80 percent for its source of forex, clearly that currency will be in trouble.

The only way out is what the government is doing, which is strengthening the economy, diversifying it, plugging all the loopholes and making sure that only the essential things are imported. It will be extremely difficult, no doubt, but we are also in a state of emergency economically. You see, take for instance, your earnings reduced from N100 to N30 per month, something will have to give way…like relocating to a smaller house and I mean this is a reality.

The fact that the government is even still managing this situation, I give credit to the government, because the situation is completely beyond their control, and this is where people have been mischievous…

Today we live in a global community, Nigeria cannot determine the price of oil or gas. And that is why the presiident has gone spending countless nights lobbying, rallying other oil-exporting countries on how do we stabilize the oil price….

The programme was aired on FRCN’s Radio Link

http://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2016/03/12/lai-mohammed-clarifies-comment-on-economy-being-out-of-control/

We no talk am? Say him go soon deny fast fast. A man at war with himself.

MOUTH DIARRHEA! Government of denials; for the gullible and zombies; by the Liarses and go-slows.

.......

Lol. This man no be here ooo

This is just a comic relief for knowing now you have a deadly cancer of the mouth...

Maybe diarrhea or something badder.

...I give credit to the government, because the situation is completely beyond their
control...

TBH, I am now convinced beyond reasonable doubt that Nigeria's problems is beyond leadership, but a societal one. Are we just intellectually deficient or chronically prejudiced.
---
This was an interview where the Minister was specifically asked about the exchange rate situation. He tried to explain the factors that influence the rate making reference to oil price. He simply said the SITUATION (exchange rate) was beyond the president since he does not control oil price. He never said the ECONOMY was beyond the President’s control as misrepresented by the media.
---
How the media gets away with such mischief is beyond me. Worse still is the fact that 80% of readers do not even notice this distortion of facts. These are people that will later assume leadership positions. With such shallowness among citizens, the future is even more uncertain.

Lie lai man, na lai go kill you.

ThisDay is one of the IPOB newspaper

Deliberately twisting the words of the minister in other to provide opportunity for IPOB youths to wail their hearts out

Wail on!!

Lai the lying lier lying as usual to only the gullible APC zombies.

Bevista:
TBH, I am now convinced beyond reasonable doubt that Nigeria's problems is beyond leadership, but a societal one. Are we just intellectually deficient or chronically prejudiced.
---
This was an interview where the Minister was specifically asked about the exchange rate situation. He tried to explain the factors that influence the rate making reference to oil price. He simply said the SITUATION (exchange rate) was beyond the president since he does not control oil price. He never said the ECONOMY was beyond the President’s control as misrepresented by the media.
---
How the media gets away with such mischief is beyond me. Worse still is the fact that 80% of readers do not even notice this distortion of facts. These are people that will later assume leadership positions. With such shallowness among citizens, the future is even more uncertain.

This is one of the reasons why I'm all for this media bill. I don't read ANY news site at all and anything not reported on Channels News is not taken seriously.

LOGORRHEA:excessive and uncontrollable talkativeness.It is a medical condition,more of a psychiatric condition.Can this be the sickness Lai Muhammad is suffering from?I think he needs a medic.l recommend National Hospital,Abuja for him.

95% of people who comments on nairaland don't actually read anything that is beyond 3 paragraph, they make conclusion on headlines some have no flicking clue about what's been said yet they comment either to insult their past or present leaders that's how we role in naija

No matter how much you wail, Buhari is Apc god, he's above mistake, he's the best thing after jollof rice and the best president the world has ever seen. You people have become so blind to the new wave of progress and development in the country. Since Buhari came into power, we have been enjoying 92 hours of electricity everyday in my area, fuel is now 45 naira per litre, prices of goods have crashed by 50%, Boko Haram have been technically defeated, the Chibok girls have been found, unemployed graduates now collect 5000 naira monthly, school children now take fried rice and chicken in school and investors are now trooping in everyday, what else do you people want?

We still love Lai despite the comment.

Lie Mohammed= Great grandfather of lies

Bevista:
TBH, I am now convinced beyond reasonable doubt that Nigeria's problems is beyond leadership, but a societal one. Are we just intellectually deficient or chronically prejudiced.
---
This was an interview where the Minister was specifically asked about the exchange rate situation. He tried to explain the factors that influence the rate making reference to oil price. He simply said the SITUATION (exchange rate) was beyond the president since he does not control oil price. He never said the ECONOMY was beyond the President’s control as misrepresented by the media.
---
How the media gets away with such mischief is beyond me. Worse still is the fact that 80% of readers do not even notice this distortion of facts. These are people that will later assume leadership positions. With such shallowness among citizens, the future is even more uncertain.

thank you jare, Bev!

As i was chating with my dog #Papilo
.
You can imagine what he said to me That the nigerian problem is spiritual. But prayers cant help and it begs the question what then will help
.
Can any one answer me

It appears Apc and lying are Siamese twins and dat d spirit of telling lies appears congenital to this All Promises Cancelled party. Can u just imagine dat d only truth Mr Lai Mohammed told us and some us happy dat 'Linus' has turned a new leaf has just been branded yet another lie.

It's seem the teaching of English comprehension in our schools is no longer in existence.
The youths of these days are more intrested in insulting government officials than in understanding what the officials are saying.

Elose11:
MOUTH DIARRHEA! Government of denials; for the gullible and zombies; by the Liarses and go-slows.

people should just think before criticising is the price if oil in international market beyond the control of Nigeria government? Yes

Bevista:
TBH, I am now convinced beyond reasonable doubt that Nigeria's problems is beyond leadership, but a societal one. Are we just intellectually deficient or chronically prejudiced.
---
This was an interview where the Minister was specifically asked about the exchange rate situation. He tried to explain the factors that influence the rate making reference to oil price. He simply said the SITUATION (exchange rate) was beyond the president since he does not control oil price. He never said the ECONOMY was beyond the President’s control as misrepresented by the media.
---
How the media gets away with such mischief is beyond me. Worse still is the fact that 80% of readers do not even notice this distortion of facts. These are people that will later assume leadership positions. With such shallowness among citizens, the future is even more uncertain.

And what makes you so confident that the SITUATION he meant was just that of the exchange rate? It seems you also inherited the lying gift from Lai the Lier.

Read the excerpt again. Lai mentioned the SITUATION that's affecting the free fall of the naira. He talked about balance of trade, export/import, fall in crude price. All these are the SITUATION leading to the free fall of the naira and the poor economy. And he said this is beyond the President's control. The SITUATION here is a totality of the forces affecting the economy not just an aspect of it as you claim.

So you see, you lied just like Lai. And you didn't even lie well. You should have said SITUATION meant fall in crude price rather than exchange rate. How can you say the exchange rate is beyond the control of the president? That means you're suggesting he's incompetent in boosting the value of the naira. Well, I agree with you on that.

PentiumPro:
It's seem the teaching of English comprehension in our school is no longer in existence.
The youths of these days are more intrested in insulting government officials than in understanding what the officials are saying.

. God bless you they criticise without comprehending

Caught red-handed.

I've said this before, there's actually no difference between Lie Mohammed and one of the media aides of the president. He is always defending and never informing. He would go down as the worst minister of information ever.‎ Even his duplicitous party has started to reject him. His facial expression alone reeks of double speaking

Am not SURPRISED! LAI HAS BEEN KNOWN TO BE A ELITE ERUDITE LIAR AND THE FEDERAL MINISTER OF MISINFORMATION!!

We know the LIAR





ThefakeStan

I am not an APC supporter. Neither am I a Buhari fan. But if u read those lines very well u will understand Lie Mahammed was misquoted.

Simple and plain truth.

Thisday has just goofed on this one.

Only APC zombies will believe Liar Mohammed did not utter such Statement.

Just when we thought the holy spirit has entered brother lai........

ShowYourCertificate:
And what makes you so confident that the SITUATION he meant was just that of the exchange rate? It seems you also inherited the lying gift from Lai the Lier.

Read the excerpt again. Lai mentioned the situation that's affecting the free fall of the naira. He talked about balance of trade, export/import, fall in crude price. All these are the situation leading to the free fall of the naira and the poor economy. And he said this is beyond the President's control.

So you see, you lied just like Lai. And you didn't even lie well. You should have said SITUATION meant fall in crude price rather than exchange rate. How can you say the exchange rate is beyond the cobtrol of the president? That means you're suggesting he's incompetent in boosting the value of the naira. Well, I agree with you on yuu that.

. You are the one that lack simple understanding of English Language. The free fall of naira was due to reduction in foreign earnings through oil price and this is beyond the control of Nigeria government. Pls criticise with sense cos you are not better off