The Federal Government has dismissed as laughable propaganda, the recent threat issued by the Abuja-Kaduna train terrorists to go after President Muhammadu Buhari and Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, made the assertion while briefing correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by the President at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday.

It will be recalled that in the latest viral video released by the abductors of the Abuja-Kaduna train passengers, they had boasted that they would come after President Buhari and Governor el-Rufai.

Following the Senate resolution on the impeachment of the president, if nothing is done in the next few weeks to deal with the issue, the Minister noted that President Buhari is not unaware of the security challenges in the country but that all efforts are in place to bring it under control.

Reacting to the different claims during the question and answer session of the briefing, Mohammed said: “Most of the questions you asked have to do with the security situation. I want to assure you that the President is aware of all these and as a matter of fact, I think tomorrow, there’s going to be another Security Council meeting.

“So, it’s not a matter the President is taking lightly and like I’ll always, say some of the measures we’re going to take are not measures that you can discuss openly here, but we’re as concerned as you are, we’re not going to abandon our responsibility.

“As to those who have issued threats to Mr President, I think it’s more of propaganda than anything. It’s laughable.

“Resolution passed by Senator, as rightly said, it was passed when we were deliberating, but we thank them for their patriotism and their concern, but we are working round the clock, 24 hours, to ensure that the situation is brought under control.

“I want to reassure you that the government is up to the task of ensuring security. Security challenges will come anywhere in the world, the important thing is the fact that you do not lose focus and you continue to work assiduously to overcome it. I want to assure you we are going to overcome,” he said.

In his remarks, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, explained the depletion of the Excess Crude Account (ECA), saying that it had not been funded for a while.

She recalled that the sum of $1 billion was withdrawn from it for the procurement of arms in consultation with state governors.

She said: “On the issue of the Excess Crude Account, in the past four years, because of volatility in the cause oil market, we have not had accrual to the excess cause account.

“So, what we have had, has been gradually used up for different purposes and it is always used in consultation with the National Economic Council, that is the governors because this is a federation account.

“The last approval that was given by the council was the withdrawal of $ 1 billion to enhance security. We have been utilizing that. The last trench of that has been finally released because deployment to security agencies is based on the contracts executed and it’s been used strictly for that security purpose.

“So, the utilization of the account is with the full knowledge of the governors. The assumptions that we made for the next medium-term framework from 2023 to 2025 is that crude oil price will be at $70 bpd for 2023, $66 bpd for 2024 and $62 bpd for 2025.

“Crude oil production is projected to be 1.69million bpd for 2023 and 1.813million bpd for both 2024 as well as 2025. We have also projected that the nominal GDP, the size of Nigeria’s economy will rise up to N225.5trillion with 95% of this contribution by the non-oil sector while the oil sector will contribute only 5%. And some steady increase from 2024 2025 to reach up to N280.70trillion in 2025. This means that Nigeria continues to retain its position as the largest economy in Africa,” he added.

Mrs Ahmed asserted that the nation’s economy is doing well against the belief in some quarters, saying that despite realizing the lowest revenues from oil at a time, the administration was able to do more on infrastructure.

She stated that: “Thank you for that question. First of all, let me address a question on the issue of the economy, as to whether the administration has done well. The administration has done very well.

“I need to remind us all here that in 2015 the administration came on and met a crisis in the oil and gas sector; we had the first lump in crude oil prices and a very significant slump in crude oil production.

“There was a time that the volumes went as low as one million barrels per day. We were able to take measures to reflate the economy and exit recession within three quarters, by the fourth quarter, we’re out of recession.

“Secondly, we had a second recession due to COVID-19. That was even a shorter recession and we have seen now up to five quarters of positive growth. So, the economy has been growing despite very, very difficult circumstances.

“The other thing I need to remind us is that this administration has been able to realize the lowest oil and gas revenue compared to all previous administrations, but it has also been able to do much more in terms of deployment of infrastructure. So, the administration has done well,” she emphasised. (Nigerian Tribune)

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