₦airaland Forum

Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, says it is in the best interest of Nigerian elites for the country to remain united.

Mohammed stated this on Wednesday when he featured on a NAN flagship interview programme, NAN Forum.

The minister accused elites of fanning the embers of disintegration in the country, and warned that they will bear the greater consequences if Nigeria breaks up.

According to him, some elites who have attained professorial status may be left with no option than to work in bakeries in neighbouring Togo just to survive.

“Our challenge is more with the elites, not with the common people. Go to the remotest part of Nigeria today, you will see Nigerians from different tribes, culture and religion living together peacefully,” he said.

“Elites ought to take the lead in cementing the unity of the country. But when the elites start preaching tribal hatred, people believe them because they think they know better.

“Nigeria accounts for 70 percent of West Africa’s population, and if Nigeria should disintegrate today, we are going to overrun Benin Republic, Togo, Niger and other neighbouring countries.

“The elites will suffer more because some professors could be working in bakeries in Togo just to survive. We saw it happen when the Liberians came here during their civil war.

“It is in their own enlightened interest that they should work to fix Nigeria. Many of them have more than one passport — American, British, Irish — and at the first crack of trouble, they are gone.”

EKONGKING:
While any developmental projects are welcome.
Unnecessary boasting is not required.
The first statement is very misleading ,how can you claim you are the first subnational ,to build a metro.
If it's nigeria ,you are comparing ,then yes.
In Africa ,many cities have built their metro.
In world ,they are literally hundred of cities ,which has built they own metro,with little central government support

Bluntemperor:
He has not said anything.
He is now looking for scapegoats!
We are in a dire period,biko.
Why is this man still in government?

Empiree:
seriously, I think all of you guys need to shut up if you have nothing to offer the country. I have researched lady night and realized the alleged statements were made back in 2006 when many things were in the high side due to Judeo-christian zionists invasion of Muslim countries. Many christians said the worse those days and are still dating the worse today. CAN is not left out. So please you guys need to stop propagating rubbish and find something important to do for yourselves. CAN needs to be planned on US watch list too for many derogatory statements they made against Muslims.

and other parts of the country are not backward?. E ka bo, the elites. What have you to show for NIGERIA's progress in your community or region?.


please shut up. His alleged statement was over a decade old. Why brought it out now?

Racoon:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD4Z3r_2Ur0
See this glorified mumu trying frantically to use the doctrine of taqqiya on the gullible Nigerians.So has your NIN policy tracked and arrest Shekau, and other of his foot soldiers that are busy wiring monies from UAE to Nigeria for terrorism with ease which the UAE government has done effortlessly?

What about the financial fraud that are being committed using electronic means.Are they telling us the BVN which also must be linked to a SIM/NIN (phone number) are not being involved? These terrorists thinks every Nigerian is a cow they can tell any shitcrap to.It is really sad, this is what Buhari gave this nation.

Racoon:
What about the government sponsored counter protest against the #EndSARS protest?

Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, has alleged forces against the Federal Government’s compulsory policy on National Identification Number (NIN) registration for all Nigerians and those residing in the country are behind recent attacks against him.

Pantami in an exclusive interview with PREMIUM TIMES dismissed all the allegations against him, describing them as ‘untrue’.

He further denied links to extremist views, saying criminals and other ‘entrenched interests’ are behind the attacks on him.

He said: “I have no doubt about this. It has to do with the National Identification Number. Do you know one thing? This policy was started in 2011, it was not successful. Why? It was fought

“…In 2015, it came up, it was not successful. In 2018 there was a time that there were meetings between government and mobile network operators.

“And it was actually announced that by the agreement with government, the deadline was January 2018. It is there online, I will share it with you if you like. By January 2018, it was not implemented because there are forces against it. There are forces!”

Pantami explained NIN registration is not only meant for Nigerians but it could be obtained by anybody in Nigeria.

He said: “Now they have started coming with the news that people are coming from neighbouring countries to register.

“What they fail to understand is that the National Identification Number is not only for Nigerians; anybody in Nigeria can obtain it.

Read Also: I’ve no ties with Boko Haram – Pantami
“Section 16 and 17 of the Act mention the registrable people in the country – citizens, legal residents, legal permanent residents, and legal residents for a minimum of two years. So, it is not only for citizens. And it is also important to know that this is not just an indication that they are citizens of Nigeria.

“It is rather an indication that you presented your biometric data, so the government has control over your data.

“And that data of NIMC (National Identity Management Commission), nobody has access to it in any way he likes. Getting access to it illegally is 10 years in prison. It is there in the law. But people will like to discredit it, because they don’t like it.”

The Minister added: “As long as it is implemented by the government, it will go a long way in reducing crime and based on the statistics we have been seeing now, it’s really encouraging.

“As government, our priority is the protection of the lives and property of our citizens. Security is our priority as a government – whether in agric, digital economy, education or in health, in whatever.

“President Muhammadu Buahari is so passionate about security, and he directed me to do that because he knows I try to persevere despite challenges and do what is right in the interest of our citizens and humanity.”

“You know as a government appointee, and at this level, if you say you are going to be intimidated by everything, then you cannot do the work. You cannot do the work.

” I was with the Minister of Foreign Affairs this week, on April 12. I was with the Minister. I was with the ambassadors of the U.K., the U.S., South Korea, and many other countries.



“Even this issue that we are talking about, based on our findings, preliminary investigation, many people are not happy with what we have been doing – linking National Identification Number with SIM. Because a situation will come that all the people using SIM to commit crime will not be able to do that.

“If they do that, the government will be able to intercept them easily. This is what they don’t want to happen. And this is a mandate given to me by President Muhammadu Buhari. He personally signed the letter that ‘you are mandated to do that’.

“As his appointee, I should either do it or say I cannot. So, since I am willing to serve my country, I must continue to do it to the best of my ability.

“So, in my meeting with them, they even encouraged me to push it and make it very successful.”

AGNESikpuNNU:

One thing we all unanimously agree on is the fact that buharri is excellent at picking idiots and misfits to represent him.

HacheNoire:
Will never forget our days in Ebute-Metta High School football team.

Those days he used to run the wings and I was in the mid-field

Sergio was great striker right from our JSS 1

Simplyleo:
Shildren of 8, frustration, anger and perdition reacting will be like:

1. Celebrating mediocrity
2. Did Buhari do it with his money?
3. Archaic railway system.
4. OP, how much Buhari pay you for this lies.
5. This project was completed by gej.
6. This is gej initiative, where is Buhari own?
7. How does this affect us?
8. Govt of lies.
9. What is the cost?
10. They want to divert our attention.

The Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, Iba Gani Adams, has urged the governors of the six states in the South-West region to inject at least 15 percent of their annual budget into agriculture to provide sustainable food production for the region.


He spoke on Friday during a meeting over the recent protest and strike by the Amalgamated Union of Foodstuff and Cattle Dealers of Nigeria (AUFCDN), leading to the blockade of food items from the North to the South.


Gani Adams
He advised South-West governors to adopt the model and expertise employed by Rwanda to transform its agricultural sector.

According to him, investment in agriculture will provide food security, employment, improve IGR, reduce urban congestion, and help farmers build capacity to achieve more productivity through mechanised farming.

He said, “It is embarrassing for the North to threaten our region with an unwarranted blockade that is of no use to us. I have it on good record that the South spends over N8 billion daily on cow consumption.

“It is an embarrassment for the North to think that they are doing the South a favour. I also have figures of the several billions of naira we spend daily on perishable products, but the truth is that the blockade that had been suspended now seemed to be a blessing for us because it will trigger an agricultural revolution in the South-West that will definitely change the ugly narratives of the past.

“So, I think it is the responsibility of all the South-West governors to swiftly respond to this threat and seek a better approach to enhance both small and large scale farming across the region and further strengthen the security architecture of the region.”