We have failed in our assignment as information managers - Garba Shehu

It was thumbs down for President Muhammadu Buhari’s information managers and self-indictment as the Senior Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, Malam Garba Shehu, said that they have failed in their as­signment.
Shehu, who reacted on Monday to the growing criti­cisms of Buhari’s economic pol­icies, said that had the informa­tion managers done their job well, Nigerians would have ap­preciated the laudable projects and reforms of the administra­tion.
The administration’s infor­mation managers are led by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, Gar­ba Shehu and the Special Ad­viser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina.

In a statement he issued in Abuja on Monday, Shehu said:
“There are many who say that this government’s econom­ic strategy is unclear, where­as the previous government seemed well coordinated.
“I will make the confes­sion that we, the officials hired to communicate government policies, which includes my­self, have not done as well as we should have.
“The truth is that more than any other time before, there is a clear direction and strategy for achieving growth and de­velopment.
“Revisionists may not agree, but the truth of the mat­ter is that the previous admin­istration only had one issue, which was how to spend mon­ey (oil revenues and borrowed money),’’ he said.
The presidential aide added that the administration would soon extend its economic and financial reform to the 36 states of the federation.
According to Shehu, the Federal Government will force the state governments to reform their spending and build sav­ings and investments.
Shehu added the approach would include blockage of leak­ages that allowed public reve­nue to be siphoned into private accounts.
The current probe into the finances of the military, accord­ing to him, was part of the re­form aimed at curbing corrup­tion in the armed forces.
He said: “Look at what a civilian administration is do­ing to the military, investigat­ing their finances and accounts that the military could not do to themselves. Look at what the current administration is doing to sanitise the huge salary bill by eliminating payroll fraud.
“So far, the federal payroll has been rid of about 40,000 ghost workers. More than N8 billion stolen monthly has been saved.
“We are also saving on wasteful expenses like First Class travels and Private Jets for official trips.
“The Federal Government is not limiting the reforms to the centre, but forcing state governments to change their spending and build savings or investments,’’ he said.
Shehu said that the govern­ment is increasing spending on capital projects, especially on infrastructure to make the Ni­gerian businesses competitive and create jobs.
He said that if these things had been done when the oil price was as high as $140 per barrel, Nigeria would not be in the current mess.
“If PDP were still in power, they would have continued de­ceiving people by borrowing to fund, stealing and wastage and the problem would have simply been postponed for future gen­erations to face,” he said.