Government will not lie to you, presidential aide tells Nigerians

Presidential media aide, Femi Adesina, on Wednesday, said the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration was very particular about integrity and would not lie to Nigerians.

He was responding to a statement credited to a governor who said government lied about commencing the payment of N5,000 monthly stipends to Nigeria’s poor and vulnerable.

Ekiti State governor had in a statement accused the Federal Government of running on propaganda as it claimed it had commenced payments in states, mostly the All Progressives Congress (APC)-controlled states, knowing that “the governors can not come out to disprove the payment.”

Briefing alongside Abdurahman Dambazzau, minister of interior, and Hadi Sirika, minister of state for aviation, he said Nigerians could choose who to believe.

“On N5,000 stipend, it was announced specifically from the office of the Vice President that the scheme has started in nine states. And then a certain governor came and says it is not true. Is just a matter of who do you believe. This is a government that is built on integrity and accountability.

“This government will not lie to Nigerians, does not lie to Nigerians, in fact anything you hear from this government you can take it to the bank, believe it. So, if anybody comes and say its politics is not true. Choose who to believe, I can tell you that you should believe this government because this government will not lie to you,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) at its first meeting for the year 2017 on Wednesday approved the procurement of fire fighting equipments at a cost of N4.6 billion.

The approval signals the upgrade of fire fighting equipments across the country, which are about 21 years old, Dambazzau, minister of interior, told journalists at the post-FEC briefing.

He said N5.2 billion had initially been budgeted for the procurement of the equipments in the 2016 budget, but the Bureau for Public Procurement scaled it down to N4.6 billion.

“Today’s FEC approved, the procurement of some fire fighting equipment. This service, the last time equipment was procured was sometimes in 1996, so the equipment in the inventory today we have those procured between 1985 and 1996, and since then there was no procurement.

“So, this approved procurement is going to go a long way to provide the service with the necessary equipment,” the minister said.

Dambazzau said he was hoping that the 2017 budget would “avail us the opportunity to procure more equipment for the federal fire service and of course the fire training school. I have visited there, I am making some efforts to also improve on our existing facilities.”

To reduce the rate of fire incidents in the country, the interior minister said the council discussed measures that would ensure citizens adhere to preventive codes.

“Part of the discussion we had today was also to have an inter ministerial committee, and I have made consultations with various ministries and states in order to ensure that we carry out preventive measures such as ensuring that the new building code, every building has the necessary fire equipment for preventive measures such as fire hydrants within the metropolis.

“These are some of the measure we intend to take in the very near future to ensure that we reduces the lapses and prevent fire from happening,” he said.

The National Association of Nigerian Traders last year said N5.3 trillion had been lost in fire incidences across the country in the last 17 years. He said the ministry of interior would partner entities, particularly in the oil and gas sector, to train firemen in the country so as to improve their services with a target vulnerable states like Kano, Kebbi and Lagos.