Minister of information and culture Lai Mohammed has departed the United States for Lagos following his trip to engage with international media organisations and think tanks on the achievements of the Buhari administration and the efforts made so far in tackling insurgency, banditry and all forms of criminality.
“We had a very hectic three-day engagement in Washington, DC, and I am very satisfied with the outcome of the engagements,” Mohammed told the News Agency of Nigeria in Washington DC on Wednesday before his departure.
“We have been able to achieve our objective which is to come and tell our own stories, to give an account of our stewardship to the global media and think-tanks and I am very glad that we met both.”
The minister said contrary to an online report, he did not sneak out of the country and his mission to the US was never to meet with Twitter officials, adding that he never did.
“On Wednesday, August 18, we had interview session with the BBC Radio and Television, Bloomberg and Politico, a US-based journalism company that covers politics and policy in the US and internationally,” Mohammed further said.
“We opened our programme on Thursday with interview with Reuters, followed by Washington Post and another (live) interview with Bloomberg Quicktake.
“On Friday, we had interview session with VOA Radio and TV and met with Dr Peter Pham, a Fellow of the Atlantic Council, a think-tank, and former President Trump’s special envoy to the Great Lake Region of Africa.
“We had a very useful discussion with Pham and we were able to put across to him our narratives on security, COVID-19, Twitter ban, economy and how well we are doing in the area of infrastructure.
“We were also able to debunk the negative and fake stories about persecution of Christians and he made very useful suggestions which we are going to follow up.”
