The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, on Friday said
that the Federal Government had been able to address the country’s sick
economy
and promised that recession will end soon, while also stating
that the anti-corruption war and effort against insecurity were faring
well.
This was as he asked Nigerians to forget what naysayers want people
to believe about the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration. He explained
that the Federal Government had been working “assiduously to redeem its
electoral pledges, especially in the critical areas of developing the
economy as well as fighting corruption and insecurity.”
A statement by the Special Assistant to the minister, Segun Adeyemi,
quoted Mohammed as saying this in Abuja while signing a Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) with the visiting Chinese Vice Minister of The State
Council Information Office, Mr. Guo Weimin, in the area of media and
cultural relations.
The minister said, “Contrary to the lies that are being purveyed
daily in the Social Media, this government has been working assiduously
to redeem its electoral pledges. Our fight against insecurity is
yielding very positive results.
“Our fight against corruption is focused and is ongoing and we are
resolute and we have resolved that we are going to fight corruption
until corruption goes under. We are happy that in this regards, we have a
very good partner in China because we are aware and we know how China
fought corruption and how China is fighting corruption.
”We have succeeded in nursing a very sick economy and very soon, Nigeria will get out of recession.”
According to Mohammed, the signing of the MOU will further deepen the already excellent relationship between the two countries.
He further expressed optimism that some provisions of the MOU that
encourage the news agencies of Nigeria and China to reflect, in their
reporting, the social, economic and cultural development in both
countries, will eliminate the phenomenon of fake news.
“This is significant because we are today in the era of fake news.
Unlike China, the Social Media here is completely unrestrained.
Therefore it is important that you get your news directly from the
official source,” he said.
The Minister sought the support of China towards the training of the
Ministry’s Resident Information Officers on modern Governance Public
Communication methods in order to build their capacity as the respective
spokespersons of Ministries, Department and Agencies.
Mohammed also sought partnership with China in the areas of film
production and distribution, development of community cinema houses and
collaboration in the co-production of films as well as screening of
Nigerian films in China and vice versa.
