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‘Its unfortunate my Father named me Lai, it made it easy for opposition to see me as a Liar’ – Lai Mohammed laments
Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in an interactive session with newsmen in Lagos at the weekend, speaks on issues of national interest. BOLA BADMUS brings these excerpts:
Recently, the Customs General, Ahmadu Ali, said you have 50 per cent PDP members in this administration, he even said they are more than 50per cent and that they have constituted problems for the administration, the question is, why can’t the president do something about it?
I think he has actually explained that as early as 2015, he did direct that they should bring nominations for constituting the boards and he was very clear with the directive as to who should make the boards, who should qualify. I remember he said anybody that has been a frontline actor in the run up to the elections, anybody who had either contested for primaries within the party and had lost or because they agreed on consensus and was asked to step down, anybody who actually contested elections, either at governorship level, National Assembly level or even state level against either PDP or Labour Party and had lost that these are the main stakeholders in the party, these are the people who ought to be commended for the appointments. But as you know, Mr President himself alone cannot do all these, all politics that we play is local.
I agree that those are charged with that responsibility failed and that’s why we are in the mess we are now and he has promised that there is going to be a fresh exercise because it is one thing to dissolve the board but you can’t leave them vacant and I think we are going to see a lot of progress in that direction.
But do you believe they are making money to fight your government, these PDP people that are still in your administration?
Well, I wouldn’t know where they are making the money from, but clearly in politics, they always say never empower your enemies.
Even now, two years into the office of President Buhari, some of those who worked for him have not been compensated.
That is why I used the example that I used for some governorship candidates/ aspirants, I used the example of National Assembly.
Again, don’t forget, like I say all politics is local. If I am the chairman of Delta State APC or I am a leader in Delta APC, and I given some criteria, I may decide to bypass those criteria. Mr President is too busy to look at all those things.
I know of many states for instance where people are complaining that it is not those who ought to be compensated that were compensated. Again, it’s not possible for you to compensate everybody at the same time. Certain Boards are not due for dissolution because some of them are tenured and certain boards need specialists. Certain Boards are governed by certain rules and so like you said the truth of the matter is that Mr. President as far back as 2015 gave this assignment to party members and they failed, they failed Mr President, that’s honest truth, I know.
What about the Baru and Kachikwu matter?
I think we should not go over Baru and Kachikwu’s case. To the best of my knowledge, Kachickwu made his point and Baru also, but the fine thing is that I think over time, we’ve seen Baru and Kachikwu working together, but the position of government is that I think you can’t start talking about fraud, there is nothing about $25billion fraud, not in the least.
The opposition, notably the PDP of course thought that oh, for once, we have our smoking gun against this government, but I can assure you that it is not possible under this administration to have $25billion fraud, the entire economy would collapse. There is no $25billion fraud, yes, there could have been lack of communication, understanding on procedures, but I think all that has been put behind us.
After two years, APC finally held both the caucus and NEC meetings, which to some extent by your own constitution ought to have taken place earlier than that they were held, is it that you have really changed or the meetings were held out of pressure?
Now, frankly speaking, there is no party that came to power like APC that is not bound to have the kind of challenges we’ve had. If you go back to ANC of those days and even what APC is facing today. Now our case is like we are in a rainbow party. You see people often forget that APC didn’t come into being until July 31, 2013. APC did not elect its executive council until June 2014. Within two weeks of the election of the executive, it had to face elections first in Ekiti, then few months later in Osun.
Now, what I am saying is that if you look at APC, it is made up of desparate political parties, ANPP, CPC, ACN, DPP, part of PDP, part of APGA. It takes time for these to jell and work together as a party. Now less than a year, within eight months, of being a political party, we had to face elections and when we won this election, even some members of APC had not even known one another or sat down together. So the hiccups that we experienced is normal and before we could settle down, our first test, you know was the election of National Assembly leadership which showed the political fault line of the party. Now we thank God, we are gradually mending all those fences, the party is working more together as a whole, the major gladiators now are back on the same page as you could see from what transpired at both the caucus and the NEC meetings.
Are you in any way afraid that your government might not go beyond 2019?
Now, as to whether we are afraid that the PDP would win, I can tell you absolutely, we couldn’t even contemplate it because it would be tragedy for Nigeria to fall back into the hands of PDP.
Look, we have very painstakingly taken this country through hell, I mean, they dropped us in hell, and we are taking you people out of hell, we can’t come back to Egypt. No, I am serious, it is not about APC, it is about President Muhammadu Buhari, it’s like the kind of revelations that are coming out, the kind of rot, you want those people to come back and preside over the affairs of Nigeria again.
Now, let me ask you for instance what would happen to the investigations that have been held if the PDP should win in 2019? They would be swept under the carpet.
There have always been investigations.
No, no, no, this is the first time in the history of this country that you are making real recovery. Only some days ago, we signed an MoU with the Swiss government to return $321million that was stolen from the country. I just told you that this is the first time this country is looking at our problem from a very realistic and very pragmatic view point. We are not talking about what we are going to achieve in two years or three years or four years, we are thinking of getting a solid foundation for a Nigeria that my children and your children will be able to thrive.
Unfortunately, the reform agenda is always longer than a political agenda and in many parts of the world, they plan for 10 years, they plan for 15 years, nobody plan for four years. And even if you look at our plan, we are talking about 20 years even though we know that there could be change of administration, but you do not think in short term. What I am saying is that Nigerians should never, never pray for PDP to come back and I am being sincere because I know as a minister the kind of challenges we are facing.
Do you know that when we negotiated with the Swiss government to return Abacha’s loot, they gave us conditions, one of them is that we must identify what programme we want to use the money for and that the World Bank would supervise what we are using that money for and when we now argued that we are sovereign country, you can’t dictate to us how we are going to spend the money that was stolen from our country and you are returning to us. They said yes, but when we returned part of it to your country, you relooted it under Jonathan, which is true. So I have already said that, we have delivered, I am serious, we are winning.
How do you feel when the opposition try to turn your name from Lai to lie to connote that you are a liar?
The fact that I happened to be the face of opposition and PDP has not forgiven me and they won’t. Now they look at the magnitude of what has happened to them and they hold me singularly responsible which is not fair. Now becoming the face of government again as Minister of Information, it is like saying, ‘We will deal with you.’ So it is automatic. Whatever comes from Lai Mohammed, we must shoot it down as a fake news, as a lie and unfortunately my father named me Lai also. So it is very easy for them. But what I challenge them every time is, please, give me what I have said which is not true. Emotionally you might not agree with me, but in terms of facts and figures, I have never said anything which you can dispute. You don’t have to like it but those are the facts. For them, it is not about the message, it is about the messenger. Incidentally today, with the social media where there are no rules of engagement, where there is no verification for any story, it is very easy to label anybody as a liar.
NNPCL and Corruption’s Final Throes
By Pius Olasanmi
In the twilight of the Obasanjo administration, when Nigerians were still capable of being outraged, when Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of refineries was a buzzword that still held some mysticism to bamboozle citizens, during a conversation, a certain man said something profound. The man said, “As a businessman, if I were the owner of these refineries, knowing that they are three decades old, I would take the last money I have, hire bulldozers, raze them to the ground, and obtain loans to build new ones.”
When we pressed him further on why he would engage in such waste, he explained that repairing the refineries is the real waste. He explained that even if the TAM were honestly carried out, a thirty-year-old refinery would never compete favourably with a new one that would integrate contemporary technology. Operating at its best, such a refinery would never be comparatively more efficient. It is therefore pointless to have spent another one naira on the refineries at that point.
A few months later, I had a conversation with a then-lawmaker on an entirely different matter. I mentioned that the National Assembly has failed by not crafting legislation that would criminalise and punish public office holders who foist wrong decisions on the country. The logic: a public office holder need not steal to be punished, wrong decisions should attract penalties for an office holder who opts for the worst of all options when there are less injurious ones.
These established premises speak to the ongoing nauseating efforts at revisionism by those who wrecked the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and its previous iteration, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Notably, this campaign to rewrite history is traceable to Engineer Mele Kolo Kyari, the disgraced immediate past Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL and his hirelings. They have suffocated the news and the public opinion space with even more lies than they spun while in office.
The Saint Kyari campaign is anchored on convincing Nigerians that the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna Refineries were fully functional when he was booted out of office. So brazen is the campaign that one of its talking heads challenged the group chief executive officer (GCEO), Engr. Bayo Ojulari, to “inform Nigerians categorically what happened to the functioning refineries he inherited from his predecessor, Engr. Mele Kyari.” The effrontery.
We have not forgotten so soon the charade that followed the baffling claim that Nigeria has spent $2.8 billion on the repair of the refineries, while they are not churning out even a single litre of refined product among them. Saint Kyari and his goons played all manner of tricks, all of which embarrassed President Bola Tinubu, who had counted on ticking off the return to productivity of the refineries as part of his achievements, only to realise that he was deceived into celebrating phantoms. Tragic.
Lest we forget, 200 trucks were arranged as props in a well-directed video clip to celebrate the re-streaming of the Port Harcourt Refinery. The disappointment. Nigerians were to learn from several reports that the Port Harcourt refinery was not producing and was instead using old, stored petroleum products to load trucks. Worse still, the Kyari crew was passing off sanction-tainted Russian-sourced crude oil refined in Malta as locally refined products. More insult was piled on the assault on our collective sensibility with the lies that the Port Harcourt Refinery exported semi-finished products. Brazen.
Meanwhile, Kyari and his hirelings called those who pointed out or protested these glaring scams all manner of names. They hid behind industry technicalities and jargon to create the impression that those of us who knew Nigerians were being robbed did not understand what we were saying. The point remains that a $2.8 billion investment can potentially build a refinery with a capacity of around 100,000 barrels per day (bpd). Of course, the actual capacity of such a refinery will depend on various factors, including the complexity of the refinery, the technology used, and the location. That is the amount that Kyari’s regime at the NNPCL took and did not give Nigerians refined products.
Fast forward to Kyari’s sack and the appointment of Engineer Bayo Ojulari, who has demonstrated that things can indeed be done differently. Kyari’s exit was expectedly followed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) going after him and his associates. The extent of the theft is better understood against the backdrop of N80 billion being found in the bank account of one of his associates. They went on the run.
Perhaps because the EFCC was biding its time on securing international warrants for the arrests of these characters on the lam, they have become emboldened. They have decided to fight back and rewrite the story of their participation in the greatest fraud against Nigerians. Engineer Ojulari’s renewed mindset, which is entrenching a semblance of the transparency Nigerians demand, became their natural target. The demons that once roamed around the corporation came out with malevolence. They started spinning stories of corruption to tarnish the incumbent who refused to hide their crimes. The objective: bring Ojulari down. But alas, he is winning the war as it stands.
His innocence is proven, and it is glaring that those who want him out are mere charlatans who can no longer ply their corrupt wares because of the impact of the new reforms. Corruption in the NNPCL is in its final throes. The fake news being unleashed against the incumbent leadership is akin to corruption’s last kicks as reforms in the sector strangulate it and its practitioners. The reforms must take place in the NNPCL, whether the industry demons like it or not.
As a parting shot, Kyari and his associates would do well to prepare their defence. In addition to accounting for the $2.8 billion they laundered in the name of repairing the moribund refineries, they must also answer for the poor decision to fix that which is irretrievably broken. Awarding contracts for Turn Around Maintenance of 59-year-old refineries that a right-thinking person had suggested should be demolished almost twenty years ago, when they were only 30 years old, is criminal. Trying to deceive Nigerians that the fake repairs worked is treason.
Olasanmi is a public affairs analyst writing from Lagos.
GRANDIS 5STAR LUXURY APARTMENT & SUITES SET TO REDEFINE LIVING IN VICTORIA ISLAND
Set to Rise elegantly against the Lagos skyline, is the Grandis 5Star Luxury Apartment & Suites. According to Adejuwon Ademola, The General Manager of the Development company, it is more than just a residential building
“it’s a lifestyle statement. Standing 17 floors high in the heart of Victoria Island, this revolutionary masterpiece of modern architecture will offer a panoramic 360° view of Eko Atlantic, Victoria Island, and Ikoyi, transforming every apartment into an exclusive penthouse experience for the world’s most discerning elite.”
Developed by Dumarco Construction Limited, a globally acclaimed company with decades of delivering complex, high-value projects in the highly regulated petroleum, oil, and gas industries, Grandis 5Star brings unmatched international safety standards, uncompromising quality, and timeless elegance into Nigeria’s luxury property market.
> “When you live in Grandis, you’re not just buying a home—you’re investing in peace of mind, world-class safety, and an effortless luxury experience that will remain pristine for decades,” says Adejuwon A. Ademola, General Manager of Dumarco Construction Limited.
The Gold Standard in Safety and Quality
Dumarco’s roots in the oil and gas sector mean the company operates to some of the strictest safety protocols in the world. Every stage—from conceptualization, design, construction, to long-term maintenance—follows internationally accepted procedures and quality assurance measures. Cutting corners is simply not in Dumarco’s vocabulary.
> “In the oil and gas industry, there’s no room for compromise. We’ve brought that same discipline and zero-tolerance for mediocrity into property development,” says Ademola. “That’s why Grandis will be one of the safest and most enduring residential developments in Nigeria.”
To ensure transparency and prevent (project complacency), Dumarco deliberately separates the developer, contractor, and consultant roles, engaging only the most competent professionals in each respective field. Dumarco’s project team includes globally recognized contractors such as Julius Berger, Cappa & D’Alberto, and Elalan, Migliore Construczione & Tecniche (MC&T) and their partners VENCO IMTIAZ CONTRACTING COMPANY (VICC) based in Dubai, UAE, Business Contracting Limited, alongside leading consultants like Morgan Omanitan & Abe, LAMBERT, and James Cubitt.
Grandis – Investments, appreciation, returns and profitability
Our selection process for the location of the project alone was pains-taking and completely thorough scientific process. Top professional companies were employed to conduct a scientific data acquisition and analytical survey of the entire Victoria Island, Ikoyi, Lekki and Eko Atlantic before a project site is selected. Analyzing and acquiring areas developmental charts and trends, studying and gathering historical and present sale prices, rental charge and occupancy rates over a 50 year period from every individual street before the selection of the location of any of our developments especially true for the Grandis Project
He adds,
“Our clients and residents can be rest assured that the location of Grandis has been scientifically proven through all existing data to provide our clients with a 100% occupancy rate, highest developmental location, highest rental income and investment returns. ”
The Grandis Experience
Located minutes away from international corporate headquarters, embassies, and landmarks such as Eko Hotel, Radisson Blu, and the Radisson Red, Grandis offers unmatched convenience for professionals, diplomats, and high-net-worth individuals. Every residence is designed for both indulgence and efficiency, with high-grade finishes, smart-home systems, and private amenities that ensure seamless living.
From sunrise over the Atlantic to the glittering Lagos night skyline, residents will enjoy uninterrupted luxury, supported by discreet and highly trained staff, advanced security systems, and a design that prioritizes comfort and privacy.
> “We designed Grandis for people who want everything—security, elegance, convenience, and the assurance that their home will look as spectacular in 20 years as it does on day one,” Ademola notes.
A Legacy That Lasts
With its combination of visionary architecture, peerless safety, and meticulous maintenance planning, Grandis is built to remain iconic for generations. Thanks to Dumarco’s meticulous approach, the building’s service charges are expected to remain low while its value and appeal continue to appreciate over time.
In a market often marred by shortcuts and substandard practices, Mr Ademola says
Grandis stands as a beacon of what luxury living should be—safe, spectacular, and built to last.
“Grandis 5Star Luxury Apartment & Suites — Where safety meets sophistication, and every detail is designed for a life well-lived.”
He added
Website -www.dumarcoltd.com
Project website – www.26idowutaylor.com
Email [email protected]
Tel / WhatsApp +234 9077777883
GM – Adejuwon A. Ademola
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