Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has defended the N3.6 billion allocated to the acquisition of BMW cars in the 2016 budget saying that the federal government cannot be accused of extravagance compared to the last administration.
During a session with media men in Lagos, Lai Mohammed said “It is quite possible that some of the BMW cars being referred to are for the use of the VIPs. What I can assure you is that this government is very prudent in its spending. I can tell you that no minister bought a new car, all of us inherited the cars used by our predecessors. It is the last government that you can accuse of extravagance.”
He also reassured Nigerians that the military is working to bring back the Chibok girls, he said “Not unexpectedly, the dying and desperate insurgents have carried out some attacks on soft targets in the North-East during this festive season.
“This is cowardly, dastardly and condemnable. We commiserate with the state governments and the families of those who died or were injured in the attacks which, as I said earlier, are like the death pangs of a dying horse.
“These attacks are part of the propaganda that has been launched by Boko Haram and their fellow terrorists, ISIS, to seek to remain relevant in the face of massive routing by our gallant troops, and to also discredit our committed and patriotic troops. But the attacks do not shake our resolve a bit, in our determined quest to rid our nation of terrorists and ensure the security of our citizens
“The fact that Boko Haram has continued to carry out attacks on soft targets is not an indication that they still have capacity. As I have said many times, the attacks will not end with the expiration of the deadline, since insurgencies are not conventional warfares in which the guns could be silenced with an armistice. But I also said that the attacks will taper off with time, with better awareness among the citizenry and enhanced intelligence gathering by the security agencies.”