Nigeria’s Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, has called on State governments to key into the President’s vision and mission to achieve dividends of prosperity in every nook and cranny of the country.
The Information Minister made the call in Abuja, while receiving Commissioners of Information from the 36 States of the Nation on a courtesy visit to his office, led by the Borno State Commissioner of Information and Internal Security, Professor Usman Tar.
He stated that President Tinubu’s development agenda is driven purely by national interest, not politics, with transformative projects and programmes rolling out across every state of the Federation without favour or partisanship.
“Nigeria is on a journey towards enduring prosperity for everyone, and my message—and the message we have for all of you—is that you should come and join this train to take Nigeria to the destination that Mr. President promised, and that all of you want to see at the end of the day,” he said.
According to him, the President is motivated by the conviction that the challenges confronting Nigerians know no political boundaries, and he is tackling them squarely in order to positively impact the lives of all citizens.
“I have not seen a situation where there are things to do and the President refused to act because the governor of that state is not in the APC. In everything that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has done, the focus has always been on ordinary Nigerians,” he said.
The Minister noted that President Tinubu’s landmark fuel subsidy removal has unlocked unprecedented revenues for all states of the Federation, empowering them to launch life-changing projects that directly improve the welfare of their people.
“The removal of fuel subsidies has freed up resources that have enabled all your principals to embark on projects, delivering the dividends of democracy to your people. I have not seen one governor, whether in our party or any other party, who has said that we should reverse and go back to the status quo,” he said.
Idris said that before President Tinubu assumed office, 27 of the 36 states struggled to pay workers’ salaries, while a staggering 97% of the Federal Government’s revenue was swallowed by debt servicing.
Noting that: “thanks to the bold policy reforms of the President and his creative approach to governance, these grim realities have now been decisively reversed, restoring fiscal stability and freeing resources for development.”
He informed the Commissioners that: “As part of the ministry’s ongoing citizens’ engagement initiatives, the Federal Government delegation would soon visit selected states in the South-South and North-East geopolitical zones to inspect key projects being implemented by both federal and state governments and to gauge citizens’ sentiments as part of the ministry’s feedback mechanism.”
While calling for the institutionalisation of regular meetings between the Commissioners and the Ministry’s delegation to continually compare notes and coordinate strategies for taking the message of hope and prosperity to all parts of the country, the Minister urged the Commissioners to consistently utilise public information organs, including the National Orientation Agency, Nigerian Television Authority, Voice of Nigeria and the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria at their disposal in the states, in order to drive community engagement and public sensitisation.
Speaking on the education sector, the Information Minister said that the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) initiative of the President has enabled over 400,000 Nigerian students to remain in school and study without financial challenges and burden to their parents and guardians.
According to him, Tinubu’s vision is to ensure the holistic development, prosperity and well-being of all Nigerians, irrespective of political party affiliation or religious background.
“The Federal Government under President Bola Tinubu has committed N90 billion Naira to NELFUND. Tinubu’s vision is that, on no account should a Nigerian child of school age be denied access to tertiary education.
Therefore, this amount is not for school fees alone but also for upkeep of over 400,000 students across different tertiary institutions in the country.
Nigeria under Tinubu is on the path to prosperity. This is my message to you. We are in government to serve the interest of all, irrespective of political parties. If you will not listen to me because I was appointed by President Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, don’t forget that your children need the NELFUND to stay in school,” he said.
On his part, the Borno State Commissioner of Information and Internal Security, Professor Usman Tar, said they have agreed to form a common platform across party lines to promote national interest, values, orientation, unity and integration of the country.
“Seated before you are commissioners from different political parties and from different regions of this country. Therefore, we represent the broad spectrum of the Nigerian Federation. We are not here on a party basis or any narrow interest. We are here on a national platform to discuss ways and means of promoting our national interest, values and orientation,” he said.
Professor Tar, therefore, urged the Minister to leverage their platform in furtherance of the national campaigns for unity, integration and value re-orientation across the country, adding that their platform is ready to support the ministry, especially in organising its town hall meetings through public mobilisation and sensitisation to make such meetings more impactful.
The meeting was attended by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation, Mr. Ogbodo Chinasa Nnam; Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga; Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communication, Mr. Sunday Dare; and Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media Affairs, Mr. Tunde Rahman.
Also in attendance were the Director General of the Voice of Nigeria, Malam Jibrin Baba Ndace; the Director General of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Abdulhamid Dembos; and the Director General of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Dr. Mohammed Bulama.