Nigeria: When Minister Meets Publisher

The Chairman and Editor-in Chief of the THISDAY-ARISE Media Group, Prince Nduka Obaigbena, has told the Tinubu administration that its actions fail to communicate to Nigerians the dire straits the country is in.

Obaigbena said this while hosting the Minister of Information, Mohammed Idris Malagi, to a press parley at the ARISE Corporate office in Lagos.

The high-powered government communication delegation also included the Special Adviser to President Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga; Director General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Lanre Issa-Onilu, Senior Special Assistant to President Tinubu on Media, Tunde Rahman; and Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi.

While speaking to the delegation, Obaigbena said, “People say you’re not communicating – you are communicating, you are here. But the communication you are not doing is communication by example. Look at National Assembly, the way they live, the way they conduct themselves does not show that we are in trouble. So, at least, you had no car when you came here, but there are people who come with outriders. So, let our communication mechanism also be by action – action of government actors to show that things are bad.”

Speaking on the economic hardship currently being felt under the Tinubu government, the media mogul said, “Tinubu came, he announced two major reforms at the same time. At ARISE, we believe and agree that subsidy must be removed. We believe and agree that there must be a market-driven exchange rate. But not at the same time.

“The strategic error was removing subsidy and exchange rate at the same time. We needed a stable exchange rate to modulate the subsidy, because the subsidy responds to market prices.

“So, had you even sequenced it, had you now told all these IMF and co who say they support your reforms – we’ve removed subsidy to cut waste, now we need the ammunition to have exchange rate management…but we did the exchange rate without ammunition, without the dollar reserves, with oil plunging, that is why we are where we are. But it’s a beginning, and so, yes, the government needs more time.”

Obaigbena then went on to reflect that the failure of local government in Nigeria has compounded a lot of issues as he said, “A key issue is local government. Why do we have insecurity? Because of the failure of local governments.

“Governors, especially in the North, collect their allocation but it doesn’t even go to their states, and they go abroad to Dubai. The failure of local government, the failure of economic activity at the local level is one of the things that has led to the insecurity. So, restoring local government is a key point, but it will take time to review.”

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As he continued to bare his thoughts to the Information Minister and give his solutions to issues faced in the country, Obaigbena said, “Then, we have very poor people. We’re supposed to have a social register, I don’t know what has happened to it. If all these student loans, they’re okay, but the key issue is how are we taking care of the poorest of the poor? Put them on social register, give them stipends against what is happening.

“And I must say this, as a Nigerian, I’m very concerned about the poverty in the North. You can see the riots and the rioters, no education and all that stuff, and yet, the North has governed this country more than anybody else. So, there is no nexus between political power and helping your people. So, we also have to focus on the North. Like Awolowo said, illiteracy, hunger and co are the biggest things that come, you have to face them squarely, ruthlessly. So, if we want social cohesion, we have to do something about poverty in the North.”

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