Tinubu’s devt agenda driven by nat’l interest, not politics— Information Minister

By Joseph Erunke

Abuja -Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mr Mohammed Idris, has said that President Bola Tinubu’s development agenda was driven purely by national interest, not politics, with transformative projects and programmes rolling out across every state of the federation without favour or partisanship. 

A statement yesterday by Rabiu Ibrahim, Special Assistant (Media) to the minister, said Idris made this remark in Abuja on Wednesday while receiving Commissioners for Information from the 36 states of the federation during a courtesy visit to his office. 

He said: “I have not seen where there are things to do and the president refused to do because the governor of that state is not in the All Progressives Congress, APC. In everything that President Tinubu has done, the focus has always been on the ordinary Nigerians.” 

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 percent of the Federal Government’s revenue was swallowed by debt servicing.

He stressed 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. 

The minister urged state governments to key into the President’s vision and mission, so that the dividends of prosperity can be felt in every part of the country.

“Nigeria is on a journey towards enduring prosperity for everyone and my message and the message we have for all of you is that come and join this train to take Nigeria to the destination that Mr President promised he is going to take it to and that all of you want to see at the end of the day,” he said.

 He informed the commissioners that, as part of the ministry’s ongoing citizens’ engagement initiatives, the Federal Government’s 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.

He called 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.

In his remarks, the Commissioner for Information of Borno State, who chairs the Commissioners for Information Forum, Prof. 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.  The meeting was attended by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation, Mr. Ogbodo Nnam, Special Adviser to the President of Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communication, Mr. Sunday Dare, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media Affairs, Mr. Tunde Rahman.

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