THE MINISTER of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, says President Bola Tinubu mandated him to promote patriotism, honesty and transparency as the core values of the administration.
Idris, who made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, said President Tinubu’s ‘Renewed Hope Agenda’ is to take Nigeria to an enviable height among the committee of nations and change the negative narrative about the country.
“He charged me with the responsibility to ensure that Nigerians are reoriented within the few years that we are here, so that, at least, we can recover our sense as a nation and begin to go in the right direction.
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“It is a great challenge. You know that moral decadence is not among the youths only but among the entire social strata of the country.
“I think that is why the president renamed the Ministry of Information and Culture to Ministry of Information and National Orientation.
“It means the president want to put the issues of orientation and reorientation in the front burner,” Idris said, adding that the virtues of patriotism, honesty and transparency were some of the things that Tinubu is vigorously promoting.
“He has given us a marching order to see that those values are promoted and put on the front burner and disseminated to the majority of Nigerians for the good of all”
The minister also reassured that the pains being experienced by Nigerians over the removal of subsidy on petrol will be temporary, as, according to him, the ultimate benefits of the removal of the subsidy would be reaped by the common man.
He said it was regrettable that only few people were hitherto benefitting from subsidy regime, adding that the few were enjoying the common wealth of the entire country at the expense of the majority.
“So, President Bola Tinubu said he would not be part of that. He stands with the majority of Nigerians. Although, the removal will be painful at the beginning, but it will be better for all of us at the end,” he said.
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The minister further explained: “Fuel subsidy removal is like the pregnant woman due for delivery and in labour; when she is in labour pains, she will feel and prefer she never had the opportunity to bear a child.
“However, after the child is delivered, then the woman will hold her baby, smile and becomes the happiest woman in the world. I think, that analogy can be applied to this issue of fuel subsidy removal.
“So, the pains will be temporary, but at the end, we will be better for it; that is what President Bola Tinubu believes in, and that is what he is preaching”.
The minister recalled that within the first few months of Tinubu’s administration, he allocated funds to the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory for palliatives to cushion the effect of subsidy removal. “This is because Tinubu believes that the state governors are people who know their terrains very well. He also made available assorted grains and fertilisers to help cushion the immediate concerns of Nigerians about the removal of fuel subsidy.
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“I can assure you that in the long run, Nigeria will be better for it,” Idris said. (NAN)
