TheCable

Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, says he has never seen a president as tolerant as Muhammadu Buhari.

The outgoing minister spoke in Abuja at a send-forth party organised in his honour by the board of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC).

“We are always in the bad book of everybody,” Mohammed said.

“In the bad book of governments because they think we are too soft and in the bad book of naysayers because they say we are too strict.

“A station will abuse the government for a whole year, nobody will raise a finger. But if you try to impose a fine or shut the station down the whole human rights family will now say, fire Lai Mohammed.

“I must give credit to Mr President. I have never seen a President as tolerant as President Muhammadu Buhari.”

“He has never said that minister of information and culture, go and close this station even when they are abusing him.”

Mohammed said the president was aware that some Nigerians called him “baba go slow”.

He said Buhari erroneously earned the appellation because “he is tolerant, and a democrat who gives his ministers free hand to discharge their duties without undue interference”.

“One day, I was surprised in the cabinet when the president said: ‘I know they call me baba go slow’,” the minister said.

“The president has become so democratised that he was being blamed.

“But I thank God that today, he is ending on a very good note.”

The minister urged the NBC leadership to continue to defend the amended national broadcasting code and strengthen its implementation.

He said NBC should develop a written framework for the code and create a department for its enforcement.

The minister appealed to stakeholders in the industry and Nigerians to support the code and its provisions, adding that it would benefit the industry.

He said if implemented, the code would increase competition in the industry, promote local content, reduce capital flight, create employment and help the industry to grow.

The minister also urged NBC not to rest on its oars in implementing the digital switch over (DSO), which is the process of transiting from analogue to digital broadcasting.

He said the DSO had been successfully implemented in 12 states.

He noted that there was a need to do more to complete the process because, without the DSO, the nation’s broadcast economy would not grow.