President Buhari has led Nigeria to the right direction ― Lai Mohammed

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said in spite of the huge challenges inherited by the current administration, President Muhammadu Buhari has steered the country in the right direction and returned the economy to the path of sustainable growth.

The Minister made the remarks in Abuja yesterday when he received a delegation from the African Union Development Agency-New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AUDA-NEPAD), which is in the country for the second peer review.

“We came into government in 2015 and by the time we came to government, three things happened, the impact of which we did not know. The first is that by the time we assumed office in 2015, a huge part of the North East was under the effective occupation of BokoHaram.

“When we came in in 2015, the economy had virtually collapsed. Oil prices crashed from a high of about $120 per barrel to about $28 a barrel. Production went from about 2.1 million barrels per day to about half a million barrels a day. These were the challenges we faced on day one when we came in,” he said.

Alhaji Mohammed, therefore, urged the AUDA-NEPAD to always consider the peculiar challenges of a country while making conclusions on the governance structure for the peer review.

“I look at Nigeria as an extremely interesting project, especially in the last six years. I think the kind of challenges we faced as a government coming in in 2015 till today will challenge the most resourceful persons,” he said.

The Minister hailed the governance style of President Buhari which, he said, is driven by experience, wisdom, tolerance, patience and listening to all shades of opinion in his effort to chart a new course for the country that has been plagued by numerous challenges.