No Regrets Serving In Buhari’s Administration- Lai Mohammed

Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, has disclosed that he has no regret being a minister in the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The minister made this known on Tuesday in Abuja when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Information and National Orientation to defend the ministry’s 2023 budget proposal.

Responding to a question by a member of the committee, the minister said it was a privilege for him to be called upon to serve his fatherland and he had been discharging his duties effectively.

Speaking on his challenges, the minister said the ministry was not adequately funded to discharge its mandate of management of the image and reputation of the country and the promotion of its cultures.

He said with the advent of the new media, his job, like that of other information managers, became more cumbersome.

He expressed, regret, however, that there was no corresponding funding to match new problems being created by the social media.

The minister said notwithstanding the challenges, the ministry recorded tremendous achievements in the past seven years when he had been the minister.

“What I would consider the biggest achievement is deepening information flow between the government and the governed.

“Democracy is about the participation of all citizens, and nothing enhances citizens’ participation more than enhancing a two-way communication between the government and the governed,’’ he said.

In enhancing people’s participation in governance, the minister said he introduced town hall meetings where ministers told Nigerians what they were doing.

The meetings also afforded Nigerians opportunities to ask questions in a no-holds-barred manner and also offer suggestions to government, he said.

Mohammed said till date, the ministry had held more than 20 town hall meetings on major issues across the six geopolitical zones of the country.