Mohammed Tasks Information Ministry Staff To Be Creative; Set For Change Agenda

Posted by African Examiner Latest Headlines, News Tuesday, November 17th, 2015

By Ganiyu Nasirudeen

Staffers of the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture have been charged to avoid complacency and brace up, so as to contribute immensely to the change agenda of the present administration.

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, gave the task Tuesday, at his maiden meeting with the Directors and Heads of Units of the Ministry in Abuja.

Mohammed stressed that there was no room for complacency, charging the staff to “shake off” their inertia; provide leadership, just as there would be no room for excuses, adding “the perennial resort to blaming lack of funds for inaction is no longer tenable. Money chases good ideas”.

The Minister restated that the days ahead would be tough and full of challenges. Still, Alhaji Mohammed reasoned that if members of staff remain focused, they would succeed.

“We have a role model in President Muhammadu Buhari, the driver of change. Since assuming office, he has shown and demonstrated that Nigeria can join the big league. He has leveraged his legendary personal discipline, transparency, integrity, belief in the rule of law and unparalleled patriotism to put Nigeria on the global map, to show his compatriots that Nigeria can be great again and to show that what seemed impossible yesterday is now possible, either in the war on terrorism, the fight against corruption, the determination to uplift the economy, to provide jobs for our teeming youths and to ensure life more abundant for all Nigerians” the Minister pointed out.

In the days ahead, Alhaji Mohammed affirmed that the Ministry staffers would be saddled with “heavier and newer responsibilities” as part of the efforts to effectively play their role as the Champions of Change.

He therefore urged the Ministry’s management team to brace up, “because it is going to be one heck of a ride”. He expressed hope that the staff would be willing to be part of the train of change.

Mohammed reiterated: “We have done it before and we can do it again. In the run up to the last elections, there were times that we did not have money to even run our adverts, whether on the radio, television or newspapers. We soldiered on all the same. We were threatened and abducted by those who wielded the instrument of coercion, but we remained undaunted”, stating that such was the determination that propelled his party and its members, “and such is the determination that must propel us now”.

While speaking on the significance of his office, Alhaji Mohammed declared that the Information Ministry was the most strategic in the country today, stressing that the office “is even more strategic now than ever, in an era of change”.

“The responsibility to adequately communicate the Buhari Administration’s Change Agenda to Nigerians, in order for them to own and live it, rests squarely on us. It does not matter what the Federal Government does, if it is not reported, it is as good as not done. We are the fulcrum of all Ministries; hence we cannot afford to fail. That’s the challenge we face as the Ministry of Information and Culture.

“For us to successfully surmount this challenge, it is important that we start by looking inwards. It is said that what you don’t have, you can’t give. If we must inform Nigerians about the Buhari Administration’s Change Agenda, we must first believe in the change. if we must propagate the Change Agenda successfully, we must ourselves become the champions of change. Simply put, the change begins here, in this ministry, with you and I!” the Minister declared.