From Desmond Mgboh, Kano
Nigeria’s Information and Culture Minister, Chief Lai Mohammed, has described the country’s exit from recession as bad news to elements opposed to the administration of President Muhammad Buhari.
The minister spoke in Kano yesterday at the opening ceremony of the 4th Annual Conference of the Association of Communication Scholars and Professionals of Nigeria.
He said while the news of the nation’s official exit from recession represented “ good news for the people of Nigeria, it is a very sad news for the purveyors of hate speech, fake news and disinformation.”
Mohammed said Buhari’s opponents would certainly be displeased by the development because they all along had relied on the excuse of the recession to spread lies about the administration and gave Nigerians the impression that the administration was not working.
He said taking Nigeria out of recession did not happen by accident, but as a result of months of hard work by the administration, including its well articulated economic policies, especially the Strategic Implementation Programme in 2016, and the Recovery and Growth Plan.
“For Nigeria to be out of recession means that the administration has taken some right steps which culminated in the good news we are celebrating today,” he said.
He attributed the revival in the economy to growth in both the oil and non oil sectors of the economy, adding that the growth in the oil sector, which had been negative since 2016, picked up in the second quarter of 2017, while the non oil sector grew by 05 percent in the second quarter of 2017.
Mohammed disclosed that the growth in the non-oil sector was driven by the strong growth in agriculture and solid minerals sector, insisting that it was an evidence that the government’s diversification programme was working.
He said the Buhari administration is very serious about its stance on hate speech, fake news and misinformation given the threat it poses to the survival of the nation’s young democracy and to the nation in general.
“Hate speech, we must be clear, is not synonymous with free speech. Fake news is not free speech either. We assure you that we will not stifle the press, but as a government, we will act within the laws of the land to stem the tide of hate speech, fake news and disinformation in the interest of our nation.”