According to Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture, Nigeria is gradually wiping out terrorists and insurgents for the sake of national security.
The Minister spoke at a news conference in Calabar with Prof. Ben Ayade, the governor of Cross River State, to commemorate World Tourism Day in 2022.
He said that for tourism to flourish, there must be appropriate infrastructure and security.
Even our harshest detractors will concede, I’ll say it here, that in the last three months, the administration has managed to control security-related difficulties. I want to reassure you that the worst of the insecurity is passed, said Alhaji Mohammed.
He said there is undeniable evidence to back the government’s claim that the worst is gone when the scenario in the nation in 2015 is contrasted to what exists in 2022.
It’s sad that those who discuss insecurity don’t begin by comparing where we were in 2015 to where we are now.
“The whole North East of the nation was a no-go area in 2015.” One of the first things I did after being named minister in 2015 was to go with a group of international and local journalists to the North East, namely to Maiduguri, Kaure, Konduga, and Bama, to see firsthand the impact of the Boko Haram insurgency.
“That was on December 5, 2015, and I required air force planes to accompany me the 68 kilometers from Maiduguri to Bama. We were the only vehicle traffic on the route, other from our convoy. Boko Haram completely demolished every home in Bama. In the North East, no hospitals nor schools existed. The Minister claimed that telecom services had been damaged.
He said that at the time, the government’s efforts had made the North East again accessible.
Regarding the economy, Alhaji Mohammed said that the government is losing roughly 700,000 barrels of crude oil per day due to the acts of vandals in the Niger Delta, depriving it of enormous income and foreign cash.
However, he expressed happiness that the battle against oil bunkering had been successful thanks to the increased use of technology and the cooperation between government security personnel and commercial security firms.