TheCable

Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, says the current administration is working hard to tackle the challenges confronting the country.

Speaking when a delegation of the National Council for Women’s Societies (NCWS) paid him a courtesy visit at his office in Abuja, Mohammed said many critics of the government were unfair.

He said efforts were being made to improve the citizens’ well-being and standard of living.

“We are very concerned about the welfare of Nigerians and we are not sleeping; we are working day and night to ensure that the country retraces its step,” he said.

“Many of our critics have been unfair to us because many of them know that we did not invent the problems we are facing today.”

He said some of those criticisng the ‘Change Begins with Me’ campaign do not understand what it is all about.

Mohammed said that the campaign was not meant to put any burden on Nigerians but only to ask them to do the right things.

On those who insisted that change has to start from the top, he said members of President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet have been practising what they preached.

He asked Nigerians to join hands together with the government to move the nation forward.

“People have criticised the campaign. Some have said that the campaign ought to start from the top,” he said.

“We completely agree with them, but their criticism is because they did not understand the campaign.

“The campaign actually started from the top, because we are doing what we are preaching. This is the least ostentatious cabinet you can ever have.

“We are all living and showing good examples – we obey traffic rules, we queue up at public places and get to work early and close late.”

He disclosed that the recruitment process of the 500,000 jobs which government promised had begun.

“The process for the recruitment has started,” he said.

“About 1.2 million people applied and they classified them into categories, including agriculture support officers, teachers, technical officers and so on.”