The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has claimed that some foreign entities including human rights groups such as Amnesty International and the International Criminal Court were being used to frustrate Nigeria’s efforts to deal with the Boko Haram menace.
He alleged that threats of sanctions and other unwholesome tactics being used to threaten and demoralise the nation’s military and security services only go to serve the interests of terrorists and further put Nigeria’s security in jeopardy.
Mohammed said this at a media briefing in Lagos. He spoke on the state of the nation and gave highlights of the achievements recorded by the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), in various spheres of national life in the outgone year, 2020.
The minister said, “The Federal Government frowns at this unbridled attempt to demoralize our security men and women as they confront the onslaught from bandits and terrorists. Nigeria did not join the ICC so it can become a pawn on the court’s chessboard.
“It beggars’ belief to see that a nation that is fighting an existential war against bandits and terrorists is constantly being held down by an international body, which it willingly joined.
Lai Mohammed said despite the antics of another ‘fighting force’ against Nigeria, the country had made tremendous progress in tackling banditry and Boko Haram insurgency.
The minister also used the occasion to state that the federal government has made considerable progress in the containment of the COVID-19 pandemic through a multi-sectoral approach which has increased the number of testing centres across the nation.
He said, “Government of the Federation to drive the multi-sectoral approach to contain the virus. Nigeria has so far availed itself creditably in the fight against Covid-19 through the deployment of resources, mobilization and training of manpower and expansion of health infrastructure, particularly our testing capacity for Covid-19.
From just two National Reference Laboratory for the testing of Covid-19, we now have over 100 laboratories, public and private, across all the states of the federation.”
(Source: PUNCH)
