I Do Not Have $1.2bn In Any Account, Lai Mohammed Denies Allegation
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has vehemently denied the report that he has 1.2 billion dollars (about N400 billion) in his imaginary bank account, saying the report is “fake and vicious."
The minister made this known on Thursday in Ilorin at the Annual National Conference and General Meeting of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) with the theme; “Communicating Values for Development and Sustainability."
According to the minister, the report was invented by opposition and naysayers to malign his person and the government, adding that the alleged fund is about the budget of his ministry for 25 years.
“How else can you explain that people will believe and circulate a fake report that the Minister of Information and Culture that is yours truly has 1.2 billion dollars in his imaginary bank account?
"Let's examine this for a moment. 1.2 billion dollars is about N400 billion.
"The entire yearly budget of the Ministry of Information and Culture, where I preside, is under 15 billion Naira and these include salaries, overhead and capital projects.
"Assuming, without conceding that the Minister somehow manages to transfer the entire budget into his personal account, it will take 25 years for him to amass N400 billion. Yet, this disinformation was lapped up by the public."
The minister however noted that similar imaginary huge sums of money had been credited to other ministers.
He thereafter condemned the ugly trend by opposition, who were inventing the fake and malicious stories using bloggers and some online media to malign government officials.
He noted that the intention of the perpetrators and carriers of the reports are to distract the government to lose focus, but it will not fall to their antics.
The minister said that Public Relations gave him the first break in life being the profession he practiced after his graduation for over 40 years.
The minister made this known on Thursday in Ilorin at the Annual National Conference and General Meeting of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) with the theme; “Communicating Values for Development and Sustainability."
According to the minister, the report was invented by opposition and naysayers to malign his person and the government, adding that the alleged fund is about the budget of his ministry for 25 years.
“How else can you explain that people will believe and circulate a fake report that the Minister of Information and Culture that is yours truly has 1.2 billion dollars in his imaginary bank account?
"Let's examine this for a moment. 1.2 billion dollars is about N400 billion.
"The entire yearly budget of the Ministry of Information and Culture, where I preside, is under 15 billion Naira and these include salaries, overhead and capital projects.
"Assuming, without conceding that the Minister somehow manages to transfer the entire budget into his personal account, it will take 25 years for him to amass N400 billion. Yet, this disinformation was lapped up by the public."
The minister however noted that similar imaginary huge sums of money had been credited to other ministers.
He thereafter condemned the ugly trend by opposition, who were inventing the fake and malicious stories using bloggers and some online media to malign government officials.
He noted that the intention of the perpetrators and carriers of the reports are to distract the government to lose focus, but it will not fall to their antics.
The minister said that Public Relations gave him the first break in life being the profession he practiced after his graduation for over 40 years.
Comments
Post a Comment
Disclaimer: The comments on the blog are the views and opinions of the readers and does not represent that of Confluence Reporters.