We’ve not heard from Uncle Lai Mohammed, the Minister of DisInformation and Culture, in a hot minute. Nigerians over the past few years will remember him for being one of the loudest voices of the Buhari administration. He even became a tin god during the Twitter ban era.
All bad things come to an end, as will Uncle Lai’s tenure, along with Buhari, in 2023. But just before his exit, it looks like he wants to try his hands out at comedy.
What’s the latest?
On December 8, 2022, at an event in Abuja titled ”PMB Administration: Scorecard Series (2015-2023)”, Uncle Lai made some interesting comments. He said Buhari had done well in the area of self-sufficiency for Nigerians and saved us from hunger.
“Long before the (Russia-Ukraine) crisis, however, President Muhammadu Buhari had, in a statement that has now turned out to be prescient, admonished Nigerians to grow what they eat and eat what they grow. Then, many neither understood the importance of that admonition nor appreciated its relevance.
“Well, it turned out that the consequence of that statement made Nigerians look inward and relied less on imports. This has saved Nigerians from hunger, especially during the prolonged global lockdown, when exporting nations shut their ports and borders and nations that relied on imports were struggling to meet their needs.”
Which group of Nigerians is Uncle Lai talking about?
Which Nigerians is the minister exactly referring to that Buhari saved from hunger? Is it the 133 million that have been thrown into poverty? Maybe it’s the 19.4 million Nigerians that faced food insecurity between June and August this year? Or is he really referring to Buhari and his buddy Osinbajo who received ₦4 billion for food, cars and travelling last year? Uncle Lai at least needs to clarify so we know if he’s just flat-out lying like his name suggests, or if he’s telling a bad joke.
Uncle Lai can take solace in the fact he and his cronies will never suffer for food. But he shouldn’t by any stretch insult the sensibilities of Nigerians by telling us this administration has done well to end hunger in the country.
Many Nigerians are just counting down till May 2023 when they’ll be happy to see the back of him and his principal. We’ve had enough of the seven-year-long bad joke to know that Uncle Lai has no future in comedy.
