Information Minister Meets With Newspaper Editors In Lagos, Says War Against Boko Haram Is Largely Won

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed met with Newspaper Editors in Lagos today to familiarise them with the ministry and its updates.

The following present the text of the Address Presented by the Honourable Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed during the meeting with Newspaper Editors in Lagos on Wednesday December 23, 2015.

Protocol,

Good afternoon gentlemen and thank you for honouring our invitation to this interaction, which is my first meeting with you since I assumed office last month as the Hon. Minister of Information and Culture. As you must be aware, I have been having a series of meetings with various stakeholders, including the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Nigeria Guild of Editors, Nigeria Association of Women Journalists, Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria, Radio, Television and Theater Arts Workers Union of Nigeria and Civil Society Organisations.

The meetings are all geared at ensuring a more effective and seamless communication between the Government and the people, which is key to the success of any democracy, as well as forging a mutually-beneficial working relationship in the interest of Nigerians.

Gentlemen, let me start off by thanking you all, most profoundly, for your invaluable role in the success of the last general elections that ushered in the Administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. Thanks to you and all other important members of this profession, the media largely lived up to its constitutional watchdog role during the entire process that started with electioneering campaign right through the elections to the transition period and the handover.

Now, the elections are over and it is time for nation building, and we are once again calling on you because of the important role you have to play. Undoubtedly the topmost challenge facing our country today is the issue of security. Important as the economy is, no nation’s economy can thrive in an atmosphere of insecurity. That explains why the welfare and security of the citizenry constitute the basis for the existence of any government, and why it is one of the key policies of this Administration.

The biggest security challenge we face as a nation today is the Boko Haram insurgency, that has left thousands dead and injured, displaced over 2 million people and crippled the North-east, both economically and socially, with a ripple effect that is felt across the nation. You will agree with me that the Buhari Administration hit the ground running in tackling the insurgency, first relocating the military’s command and control centre to the theatre of war in Maiduguri, raising the morale of the troops through enhanced welfare and the provision of the necessary fighting tools and then rallying sub-regional, regional and global support for the war.

Today, I can report to you that the war against Boko Haram is largely won. I can confidently say this because just recently, I led a group of 33 journalists, from both the local and the international media, to the hotbed of the insurgency – Maiduguri, Konduga, Kaure and Bama. Let me remind you that, until just four months ago, Bama was the headquarters of the self-declared Caliphate of Boko Haram. It was the war’s Ground Zero, from where the terrorists called the shots, collected taxes and dispensed jungle justice. The palace of the Emir of Bama, whom they sacked, was their operational headquarters. [FMI]