It added that Obasanjo might have not been able to notice government’s efforts on economy because of his busy schedule.
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It said it had no reason to believe that Obasanjo had any motive beyond the wellbeing of the nation in issuing the statement.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, stated this while addressing State House correspondents at the end of the weekly meeting of the Federal Executive Council at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Mohammed said the government appreciated what Obasanjo said concerning the present administration’s performance in two out of the three key issues that formed its campaign –fighting corruption and tackling insurgency.
He, however, regretted that the former President believed that the administration did not deserve a pass mark in the area of the economy, which is the third of the campaign promises.
The minister said in the face of massive challenges, the administration had done creditably well.
Mohammed said, “We believe that Chief Obasanjo, because of his very busy schedule, may not have been fully availed of developments in the government’s efforts to revamp the economy, which was battered by the consequences of over-dependence on a commodity as well as unprecedented pillaging of the treasury.
“Today, most of the indices by which an economy is measured are looking up. Permit me to say, however, that Nigeria would not have exited recession through a mere order or if the administration had not made use of ‘good Nigerians’ who could help.”
The minister also described the debate on whether Buhari should seek re-election or not as a distraction.
“It is true that many Nigerians have been calling on the President to run again, while others are opposed to his return. However, we believe this issue is a distraction for the President at this time. This is because Mr. President spends every waking hour tackling the enormous challenges facing the nation, most of which were bequeathed to his administration by successive past administrations.”
On the herders-farmers’ clashes, the minister said the administration was determined to end the crisis once and for all, not minding that fact that the clashes predated the present government.
He urged Nigerians to have faith in the administration’s ability to resolve the crisis, and to watch out for concrete measures in that regard.
Listing some of the achievements of the present administration, Mohammed said foreign reserves peaked at $40bn, the highest level in about four years, and up from $24bn just a year ago, even though the price of oil had crashed woefully.
He quoted the National Bureau of Statistics as reporting that inflation had fallen for 11 consecutive months, standing at 15.37 per cent as of December 2017, describing it as the lowest inflation rate since January 2017.
He added that the determined implementation of the Treasury Single Account had stopped the haemorrhaging of the treasury, disclosing that N108bn had been saved from removal of maintenance fees payable to banks, pre-TSA.
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