The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said his ministry created different platforms to enhance communication with citizens as well as to feel their pulse on the policies and programmes of the Buhari Administration.
The Minister stated this while presenting the achievements of his
ministry at the final session of the PMB Scorecard Series (2015-2023)
in Abuja on Tuesday.
The Minister listed some of the platforms as the Town Hall Meetings;
the PMB Scorecard Series; Sustained engagement with the various
stakeholders in the media ecosystem; media tour of Federal Government
projects and the launch of the FGNiAPP.
“Realising the need to constantly work to bridge the communication gap between the government and the citizenry, and the imperative for
citizens’ participation in governance, we launched, on April 25th
2016, the Town Hall Meeting series, which provides a platform for the
government to directly interact with a cross-section of the public,
especially against the background of pervasive fakes news and
disinformation.
“The Town Hall Meeting ensures a two-way communication between the
government and the governed, serves as a feedback mechanism for
government policies and programmes and deepens participatory
democracy,” he said, noting that 22 Town Hall Meetings, including the
two that were held in indigenous languages to reach the grassroots,
have so far been held across the six geo-political zones of the
country.
The Minister recalled how, upon assumption of office, he embarked on a process to change the narrative on Boko Haram to reflect the massive
progress that the military has made in liberating captured territories
in the North East.
He said the campaign took him, along with 40 local and international
journalists, to Borno State where he visited Konduga, Kaure and Bama,
which used to be the Caliphate of the Boko Haram terrorists.
“The visit was an eye-opener. In Bama, with over 6,000 buildings, none
was standing intact. Signs in Arabic were visible everywhere. It was
no longer a matter of speculation that our troops were winning the
war, we were armed with empirical evidence. Our troops earned our
respect forever. We were able to return and tell Nigerians what we
saw, with pictures and videos to back it up.
“This went a long way in helping to change the narrative about Boko
Haram, to convince Nigerians that the territories captured and
occupied by the insurgents have been taken back, that indeed our
military was winning the war and that they needed the support of their
compatriots,” he said.
The Minister said his ministry also played a crucial role in changing
the narrative following the $9.6 billion judgement awarded against
Nigeria, in the case with a company known as
Process & Industrial Development (P&ID), through a series of
engagements, facilitated by the ministry, with key opinion molders
such as investors, financial experts and diplomats, as well as the
international media, policy makers among others.
“Recall, ladies and gentlemen, that P&ID filed an arbitration against
Nigeria over a botched deal, in 2010, for Accelerated Gas Development
in OML 123 and 67 for a period of 20 years. Following the judgement,
P&ID hired a Nigerian firm to tilt the narrative about the whole issue
in its favour and paint Nigeria in unflattering colours. As P&ID began
enforcement proceedings, simultaneously filing cases in US and UK
courts for the recognition and enforcement of the arbitral, fears
spread that Nigerian assets abroad could be confiscated.
“That was when the ministry, in partnership with the Ministry of
Finance, Budget and National Planning, Federal Ministry of Justice,
Central Bank of Nigeria, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
(EFCC), etc, stepped in to successfully change the narrative, leading to the reprieve that Nigeria got from a London Court that eventually doused the tension generated by the huge award to P&ID,” he said.
