The Nigerian government has raised an alarm over the unwholesome role being played by the International Criminal Court, Amnesty International and other human rights organisations in security management in Nigeria.
Mohammed said that Nigeria was fending off attacks on many fronts, not just from terrorists and bandits, but also from some human rights organisations and the International Criminal Court (ICC) which seem to have colluded to exacerbate the challenges facing the country in the area of security.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed was speaking at a Press conference in in Lagos South West Nigeria on Monday.
“While our security agencies continue to battle these bandits and terrorists, the ICC and some international human rights organiaations, especially Amnesty International, have constituted themselves to another ‘fighting force’ against Nigeria, constantly harassing our security forces and threatening them with investigation and possible prosecution over alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes.
”Unfortunately, a section of the local media has been parroting these organisations without weighing the impact of their constant threats on the security of the nation,” he stated.
Mohammed said the Nigerian government frowns at this unbridled attempt to demoralise our security men and women as they confront the onslaught from bandits and terrorists. He said Nigeria did not join the ICC so it can become a pawn on the court’s chessboard.
“It beggars belief to see that a nation that is fighting an existential war against bandits and terrorists is constantly being held down by an international body which it willingly joined.
”Nigeria is a sovereign state and will not surrender its sovereignty to any organisation. ICC, Amnesty International and their cohorts should desist from threatening our troops and putting the security of our country in jeopardy. Enough is enough.
”It is sad that these organisations mostly rely on fake news and disinformation to reach their conclusions, as witnessed during the Endsars protest when CNN – an otherwise respected global news network – went to town with fake news of a massacre,” the Minister explained.
Economy will soon blossom
On the economy, the Minister said Nigeria recorded positive economic developments in 2020, but these seem to have been overshadowed by the country’s economic recession.
He said; ”As you are all aware, Nigeria officially entered recession at the end of the third quarter (Q3), after the country’s Gross Domestic Product declined for the second consecutive quarter in 2020 (Q2 and Q3).
“The main reason for this is the Covid-19 pandemic. Nigeria is not alone. Dozens of countries, including economic giants like the US, UK and Canada, have entered recession, of course due to the global pandemic. Others include Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Russia and Spain.”
Mohammed however said Nigeria’s economic recession has masked a lot of positive economic developments. Citing the National Bureau of Statistics report he said; ”the decline of -3.62% in Q3 is much smaller than the -6.10% recorded in Q2.
“The economic conditions are actually improving, with 17 activities recording positive real growth in the third quarter, compared to 13 in Q2. Also, 36 of 46 economic activities did better in the third quarter of 2020 than in the second quarter of the same year.
”The -3.62% contraction recorded in the third quarter of 2020 was better than the -6.01% earlier forecast by the National Bureau of Statistics… Nigerian economy had been experiencing sustained growth, which was improving every quarter, until the second quarter of 2020, when the impact of Covid-19 started to be felt.
”Just as the year 2020 was rounding off, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) was named the best-performing stock market among the 93 equity indexes being tracked by Bloomberg across the world.
”The all-share index, which opened at 38,800.01, moved up by 310.16 points to close at 39,110.17 – crossing the 39,000 mark, while the market capitalization rose by N167 billion to close at N20.446 trillion. Returns are currently at 45.7 percent; the best annual return since 2013.”
He said the oil sector was largely responsible for the slowdown in economic activity in the third quarter of 2020, as it recorded a sharp contraction of 13.89% in the third quarter of 2020 year-on-year, the largest decline in that sector in 14 quarters.
“The reason is not far-fetched. The slowdown in global economic growth and oil demand due to Covid-19 pandemic, as well as Nigeria’s obligations to meet OPEC cuts, were principally responsible for the slowdown in the performance of the oil sector,” he stated.
Mohammed said though the non-oil sector also contracted in the third quarter of 2020, the decline in the sector by 2.51% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2020 was significantly better when compared to the contraction of 6.05% year-on-year recorded in the second quarter of 2020.
Overall, there is good news. ”The latest recession in Nigeria will be short-lived, and Nigeria will return to positive growth soon, unlike the 2016 recession which lasted five quarters.
”This is because of several complementary fiscal, real sector and monetary interventions proactively introduced by the government to forestall a far worse decline of the economy and alleviate the negative consequences of the pandemic,” the Minister stressed.
Nigeria not a failed State
Mohammed rejected the ascription of failed state on Nigeria by some entities.
He said; ”failing or failed state status is all a ruse aimed at depicting Nigeria as being in a constant state of anarchy, just so they can achieve their nefarious objectives for the country.
”If Nigeria was not a ‘failing’ state when a large slice of its territory equivalent to the size of Belgium was under the occupation of Boko Haram, which collected taxes, installed and deposed emirs, is it now that no territory is under the terrorists that Nigeria will be a failing state?
”If Nigeria was not a ‘failing’ state in those years that Christian and Muslim worshippers had to be screened to even enter their places of worship, is it now that the siege on places of worship has ceased that Nigeria will be described as a ‘failing’ state?”
”The Nigerian government rejects this characterization of Nigeria as a ‘failing’ state, which is a combination of the wishful thinking of naysayers and the evil machinations of those who don’t wish Nigeria well.”
Mercy Chukwudiebere
