Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed has accused Nigerians of being unappreciative despite the excellent achievements of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration with limited resources.
Mr Mohammed spoke at a Special Forum of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Tuesday.
He said that despite battling with dwindling resources, the present administration has achieved a lot more than other government in tackling poverty and stabilising the economy.
“My regret in this government is that Nigerians have failed to appreciate that the government is doing much more with much less.
“2010 to 2014 crude oil was selling from 100 dollars to 140 dollars per barrel, but the highest we’ve sold since we came in is 60 dollars.
“Sometimes, at the peak of COVID-19 pandemic, we were even paying for storage because nobody wanted to take our crude.
“With the drop in revenues and security challenges this government hasn’t retrenched one person but put in place programmes to cushion the effects of the pandemic,” Mohammed said.
While listing the programmes of the administration, he credited the School Feeding Programme that has been said to feed 12.8 million pupils one square meal per day.
He also said that over one million Nigerians have benefitted from the Conditional Cash Transfer programme carried out in conjunction with the World Bank under which N5,000 is paid out monthly to vulnerable Nigerians.
The minister also said the N75 billion National Youth Investment Fund initiated by the government had provided job opportunities for the youths.
However, those who criticised these measures have cited its unsustainability and the inability to improve the economy. Because despite these measures, Nigeria is the poverty of the world.
