Did the Honourable Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed actually say that President Mohammadu Buhari has fulfilled all his campaign promises to address insecurity, fix the economy and fight corruption? This was the first question that came to my mind when I saw the bold screaming headline, "Buhari Has Fulfilled All His Campaign Promises On Economy And Insecurity, Nigerians Living Better Now Than In Jonathan’s Era" credited to NAN.
My first response to this headline before curiously reading the details of the report was that President Buhari should then resign honorably if indeed he believes that he has fulfilled all his campaign promises so that another person can come in and continue from where he stopped. Out of the same curiosity, I tried to find out if Buhari himself overtly or covertly aligns himself with this position of his Minister and in fairness to our President, his comments, body language and dialectics suggest a complete opposite of what Lai Mohammed says. For instance, just last week, the president was quoted to have said clearly that fulfilling all his campaign promises would not be easy. He however assured Nigerians that he will do all he can to ensure he delivers on his promises. This statement came almost like an immediate response to Lai mohammed's ranting that PMB has fulfilled his campaign promises. Not once, not twice, in fact, a countless times, the information Minister had in the past made very controversial statements and claims that left nothing but bewilderment on the faces of even his fellow party men with mouth agape. What then is the missing link?
I guess Nigerians (myself inclusive) are yet to understand the style and communication language of the Honourable Minister of Information and culture. I think we all need to start reading this man's comments between the lines. This man is obviously in his mid sixties (at least by official age) and as such can pass for an elder who speaks like an elder. No wonder he often speaks in proverbs and parables which are usually laced with truth, half-truth and occasionally not-so-truthful (permit me not to use the word 'lies' for it may be disrespectful to call an elder a liar in my own clime anyway). Take it or leave it, Alhaji Lai Mohammed is always inspiring to listen to. The challenge is that he can say one thing which has double meanings and he deliberately and masterfully chooses a particular cause to buttress depending on where his interest lies at that particular time. When I began to read Alhaji Lai Mohammed's lips, I saw disguised truth and of course contradictions.
Using the analogy of a typical examination hall, when the questions are set and students begin to write. You discover that some people finish before the time, not because they got all the answers, but because they've exhausted the much they know and rather than waste their time scratching the brain for what they can't find. This might be what Lai Mohammed meant by “the federal government had fulfilled its campaign promises to address insecurity, fix the economy and fight corruption". He even went further to admit that they are bereft of new ideas given that whatever policies they are adopting seem not to be working when he added that "there will be some pains, but there is no alternative to what we are doing". Does that not mean 'fait accompli? Rather than going back and forth in chains of policy somersault, isn't it better to down tools and take a bow? A few examples here may suffice to amplify this point of policy rigmarole.
On the promise of fighting corruption, Alhaji Mohammed said that no amount of economic reforms put in place could work in the country unless the “monster of corruption is successfully dealt with’’. Is this not a clear statement of fact suggesting that with the war far from being won, we may continue on this two steps forward and seven steps backward movement till the next election period. By the way, apart from the TSA policy adapted from the previous administration, I can say without fear of equivocation that what we have thus far seen under the current administration is a 'fight against perceived corrupt persons' and not a fight against corruption itself. Fighting corruption entails putting structures and systems in place that would make it uneasy for the citizens to engage in corruption without being apprehended. What is on ground is a fear of being persecuted for corruption rather than abhorrence of corrupt practices. However, this present administration needs our commendation for doing much more than its predecessors in the corruption fight.
On diversification of the economy away from oil, there seems to be some form of hypocrisy in the whole policy. It still baffles one to observe that the federal government which is preaching diversification away from oil is at the same time spending huge sum of money scouting for oil in the Northern part of the country. I call this hypocrisy of the highest order and bereavement of ideas. Perhaps, this is what Lai Mohammed meant when he said their campaign promises have been fulfilled. When the former Prime Minister of Britain, David Cameron saw that his ideals and visions for Britain would no longer make sense outside of the EU, he quickly called it quits with the job rather than working against his principles and conscience. He gave way for another who believes that Britain would fare better outside the EU. This is patriotism. For Cameron, "I'm done with all I have to offer Britain as Prime Minister". I think Lai Mohammed spoke in parables, impliedly admitting that the present administration under PMB is bereft of ideas to clean up the 'mess of PDP's sixteen years of misrule and squalor'.
On the issue of salvaging our sinking Naira, it is indeed disheartening to observe that while the government blatantly refused to subsidies forex for the real sector which adds so much to the revamping of the economy, it has approved the sale of Dollar to Muslim pilgrims at the rate of N197 even when their trip adds no value to the economy. Manufacturers and importers of pain-soothing products are left to hustle for Dollars at N400 and above. I think I see sense in Lai Mohammed's submission that the APC government has exhausted all the items on its to-do-list and perhaps, on the brains of the present crop of cabinet members.
On the contrary, I still believe PMB has a lot more to offer Nigerians. He apparently does not have all the answers but he can revitalize his team by showing the exit doors to the redundant and incapacitated ones before the country collapses under his watch. I am among the very few who still believe that PMB means well for the country like GEJ, but Nigeria needs more than goodwill and good intentions as history has taught us that it doesn't follow like that.
The more Lai Mohammed makes 'castrated' effort to paint an all-is-well picture of the present administration, the more he throws his party into public mockery and disrepute. Every lie has an expiry date and equivocation makes the matter even worse.
