Lai: With $30 oil price, we have to downsize our promises
Mon Feb 29, 2016 02:40:pm Politics
3.3K By sosa hills
Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, says with oil prices sliding to as low as $30 per barrel, the APC-led government will have to downsize or prioritize on the promises it made during the election campaigns.
Lai made this known to Channels TV, he said that In February 2015, while APC was still campaigning, oil sold for $54 a barrel.
Today, its $30 a barrel, so definitely, we would have to downsize some of the things we intended to do, or prioritize them but this does not mean abandoning those promises"he said.
"We are in a completely different situation from that which we envisaged. We did not in our wildest dreams think that the price of crude will crash from about $100 to $30," the minister said on Channels TV politics today. "This is only a challenge; we have faced similar things before. One of the major economic focus is to ensure that by the end of this year, we would have achieved import substitution in many sectors. "When you campaign, you say you'll do A, B, C, but when you win elections, you'll priotise. We were elected for a four-year period, not for one year. Things, we hope, will not be bad all through these four years. "We are still faithful to those promises, but when we were campaigning, the price of crude was $100 a barrel.
Today, its $30 a barrel, so definitely, we would have to downsize some of the things we intended to do, or prioritize them." The minister, who claimed he does not speak for the All Progressives Congress but for the government of the day, said Buhari's anti-graft war has not been one-sided.
He said corruption exists in every party. "It would be wrong of me to start mentioning names of members of party A or party B that have been accused of corruption. But if you pay more attention, and see those who are coming and going out of court, you will know which parties they belong to. "One thing is clear, corruption in Nigeria cuts across religion, cuts across ethnicity; cuts across political parties. Having said this, we do not micromanage anti-graft agencies," Mohammed said. "I am government and I can tell you authoritatively that this government does not tell EFCC who to arrest and who not."
Lai made this known to Channels TV, he said that In February 2015, while APC was still campaigning, oil sold for $54 a barrel.
Today, its $30 a barrel, so definitely, we would have to downsize some of the things we intended to do, or prioritize them but this does not mean abandoning those promises"he said.
"We are in a completely different situation from that which we envisaged. We did not in our wildest dreams think that the price of crude will crash from about $100 to $30," the minister said on Channels TV politics today. "This is only a challenge; we have faced similar things before. One of the major economic focus is to ensure that by the end of this year, we would have achieved import substitution in many sectors. "When you campaign, you say you'll do A, B, C, but when you win elections, you'll priotise. We were elected for a four-year period, not for one year. Things, we hope, will not be bad all through these four years. "We are still faithful to those promises, but when we were campaigning, the price of crude was $100 a barrel.
Today, its $30 a barrel, so definitely, we would have to downsize some of the things we intended to do, or prioritize them." The minister, who claimed he does not speak for the All Progressives Congress but for the government of the day, said Buhari's anti-graft war has not been one-sided.
He said corruption exists in every party. "It would be wrong of me to start mentioning names of members of party A or party B that have been accused of corruption. But if you pay more attention, and see those who are coming and going out of court, you will know which parties they belong to. "One thing is clear, corruption in Nigeria cuts across religion, cuts across ethnicity; cuts across political parties. Having said this, we do not micromanage anti-graft agencies," Mohammed said. "I am government and I can tell you authoritatively that this government does not tell EFCC who to arrest and who not."
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