Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the National Publicity Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), holds nothing back on issues he knows so much about. He speaks on wide-ranging national issues in this interview with BOLA BADMUS. Excerpts:

Frankly speaking, we mean as an honest Nigerian, how do you view Nigeria under the change expected from the APC-led Federal Government in the country? I think with all sense of humility and objectivity, the APC-led government, so far, has been focused, sure-footed and methodical and it is on the path of addressing all the challenges facing Nigeria in the area of economy, security, governance and infrastructure. But you see I know that the common, the general view out there, especially among those who are not well informed is to equate the non-existence or to equate non-appointment of ministers and key officials with non-performance. This is not true. The president is being deliberately tactical in trying to get a full picture of the situation before he appoints ministers. You see, now, that the president is taking direct briefing from the permanent secretaries, he is making sure that he gets all the critical information that would help him even to shape the nature of the cabinet and then to shape the nature of the policies he is going to implement. I can imagine if the ministers had been in place like many people have been clamouring, many of the revelations the president has been getting now, he would not be able to get them because those permanent secretaries would not have direct access to the president. And it depends on the character and the integrity of the ministers, when such information are given to them, they might not be as forthcoming as the permanent secretaries are with the president. But not to digress, I would tell you that despite all this, we have made a lot of gains.

Sir, we shall be grateful if you can be specific in areas you regard as gains. You know we campaigned largely on three issues, namely the war against terrorism and insecurity, the war against corruption and then the battle to revive the economy. And if you look at the war against terrorism and insecurity, the president has succeeded in the less than three months he has been in office to rally regional support, international support, and global support in the fight against Boko Haram.

He has made shuttle diplomacy to Chad, to Niger, to Cameroon, to Benin Republic and has been able to solidify regional support against Boko Haram to the extent that even countries like Benin, like a lot of Lake Chad Commission have volunteered to even increase the number of troops towards that respect. The G7 also promised to offer Nigeria assistance in terms of training and in terms of equipment.

Another key point is the trip of the president to the US, which again has improved the relationship between the US and Nigeria to the extent that even the Leaky Law which would have deprived us of equipment and training from the US is being suspended for us and many of our troops have already qualified for equipment and training in the US.

Now, I think with a rejuvenated Nigerian Military today, especially with the movement of command and control of the battalion of the Army to the North-East, the Boko Haram, today, is on the run. They have been dislodged from their fortresses. Before they used to hold territories. There was a time that there were about 14 local government areas in Borno State were under firm control of Boko Haram and some in Yobe State and four in Adamawa State, but today there is no piece of our territory under the control of Boko Haram. Yes, it is true that we have witnessed an increase in suicide bombing and the rest, but that is the nature when an insurgency is on its way out and they can no longer regroup.

But some Nigerians believe that the increase in attacks came because the government adopted very wrong approach because, towards the end of former President Jonathan's term in office, the menace of insurgency had subsided. What was that wrong approach? People just talk off their head, what of the wrong approach? You see, anybody who is familiar with insurgencies and the way insurgents operate would tell you any day that these spikes in suicide bombers is ironical because the government is succeeding in its war against Boko Haram. Today we are taking the war to them, they are on the run. Before they used to take the war to us. Now, anybody who is familiar with the war against insurgencies and terrorism would tell you that the moment you dislodge them and there is no longer any coordination, each person does what he wants. And now that they cannot make the kind of spectacular attacks they make like coming to attack the headquarters of police or the United Nations, they now go for soft targets. Like in a market for instance, they go to market, they go to mosques and schools, it is natural. Even that one is on the decline because we need to attack them through application of intelligence and I am happy most of our service chiefs are people with intelligent background and that is why until yesterday, we had a reprieve for a few days. Even in advanced countries, suicide bombers are difficult to get, they are difficult to wipe out immediately, but I can assure you that by the time we launch a multinational joint task force this month, you will see that they would further be crippled.

But in the area of economy, the recent trip of the president to the US was a huge economic success because we were able to get firm commitment on investments from US, about $5billion for agricultural sector, and another $5 billion in power sector, about $1.5billion in the health sector. People who want to come and invest in Nigeria, and we also had a two-man delegation of 20 top US companies that would be coming to Nigeria to look for opportunity of investing in the country. We have also been able to get a facility of $2.1 billion from the World Bank to revamp the economy of the North Eastern part of Nigeria. Even domestically, I think we have had a government that is taking fast action in stemming industrial unrest by approving a bailout for states that have been unable to pay the workers salaries. It is a major, major step because you see, if that bailout had not been worked out, I am sure at least 18 states would have been on industrial action by now. But because this bail-out has been worked out and some states are already accessing the load, I think it has quite stemmed the labour landscape.

And again, more importantly to me is what the government has done in the area of economy which is the introduction of principle of transparency and accountability. The directive of the Federal Government that all payments due to Federal Government should be paid into one single treasury account, to me, is a masterstroke. It is because before now what used to happen is that customs would generate its own money, NNPC would generate its own money, NPA would do and they would put this money in several accounts and then rather than put this money in the treasury, they now also run their operations from these monies. I think the whole idea is that we must first know how much we have before we can say this is how much we are going to approve for anybody because if my own ministry or department does not generate any money, for instance, where do you expect me to get my running fund? If my organisation does not generate fund like police for instance, and you have spent your own money because you are generating money, how am I going to finance my own? So I think that is particularly good. Before I leave the issue of bailout, I think to me what is the most important aspect of the bailout is the decision of the Federal Government to ask the Debt Management Office (DMO) to enter into agreement with commercial banks and renegotiate on the long term basis all the debts of states (I think it is about N660 billion) so that they can now negotiate it to about 20 year-term loans. This is going to help a lot of states because right now many of them do spend a sizeable portion of their revenues servicing bank debts and bank loans because they were all given short-term loans, six years, seven years loans.

By the time they are renegotiated to 20 years, it means you are going to pay only about one third or one quarter of what you used to pay to service your loans. I think this has really calmed the situation in all the states. On the fight against corruption, the president has not disappointed Nigeria. He has made it very clear that looted funds should be retrieved. He has gotten the support of international communities. They are being identified, you know, banks, financial institutions and even countries where these looted funds have been saved.

People would expect that the way Buhari has been fighting corruption and identifying those who also looted Nigeria's funds would be the same way he would fight Boko Haram by not only carrying arms against them but also identify those who are behind it, their sponsors, because at a time, a report was published during the former administration that the government was taking step to expose sponsors of the menace, can you react to this sir? Let me make it very, very clear. This administration is even more passionate and more concerned about finding a permanent solution to Boko Haram and nobody would be spared. There would be no sacred cow. You see before now, it was fashionable to say the APC was behind the terrorists. But you see, is it possible for us to be the one behind Boko Haram and still Boko Haram will be fighting us till now? It doesn't make sense. Now, make no mistake about it, we will find out those who sponsor them, we would get to the bottom of those who are financing them, we would get to the bottom of those who are collaborating with them, but please you must remember that terrorism, even when locally-grown, is a global phenomenon and some of the sponsors might even be out of the shores of this country. What we are saying is that even if they had oversea sponsors, there must be local collaborators. What we ask is how do we fish out those who are here with us? Understand that only two weeks ago, the Air Force arrested the person who used to supply fuel to the insurgents. I think we have got to be mature in our comments and commentaries. Nobody who is a head of state would, you know, give one-inch of support for terrorism, that is not possible. It is not possible that a commander-in-chief would betray his people because this talk about somebody in government being behind Boko Haram is by somebody who does not understand what insurgence is all about.

Let me tell you what Boko Haram is about, Boko Haram wants to take control of Nigeria, it is political. After all, when Boko Haram took control of some local government areas in Borno State, they appointed their own emirs, they appointed their own tax collectors, they took total control, so how can you go and support or collaborate with anybody who wants to take over your government? You see, people do not understand what Boko Haram is, Boko Haram is not armed robbery, it is not cattle rustling, it is not rape, it is about political control.

If what you believe this is what the insurgence is all about, this means some politicians must be behind it?

No, no, that again, is wrong.

Certainly some politicians must be sponsoring it, to get hold of the country as you suggested?

You see, this is the problem we have in Nigeria, people don't even take the trouble to study and understand the phenomenon we are dealing with. You can trace Boko Haram to Salavism. Salavism is about Islamic theology or whatever. It is divided into two, the saying is about purifying Islam. Some aspect says we can purify Islam and just say this is the right way to practise Islam, but there is a political concept or political Salavism that says the only way to purify Islam is that you take political control of a country and introduce Sharia law and the like.

Now, it is not possible for any politician who is not a member of that Salavism organisation to be in control or even benefit from it when it comes to be because as far as Boko Haram is concerned, even Muslims like me are impure, so I cannot see an Islamic Republic in Nigeria asking me to be a minister because I would be an infidel as far as they are concerned in their own understanding of Islam. This is what people don't understand when you say politicians are sponsoring Boko Haram. Yes, if you are thinking in the sense that some politicians can use violence to win elections. But Boko Haram has gone beyond that. Boko Haram does not even believe in your elections, they don't believe in your constitution. It is not the same thing as using the 'Area Boys' to win elections, no. You see when you use 'Area Boys' to win elections, at the end of the elections, you pay them off. They don't want to interfere in your government, but these people (Boko Haram) want control of government, they are your rivals. That is why it is not possible for any sensible government to collaborate in any form with Boko Haram or to protect any Boko Haram sponsor because it is like it is the same thing you want that they want. It is that thing that you have that they want to take over. If Boko Haram takes over a local government, the first thing they do is that they will sack the emir, do you know how many emirs today are not living in their territories? You know, they sack emir, put their own flag on top of their secretariat, collect taxes and start to run administration, so how can any politician collaborate with that? You see the first victims of Boko Haram are neither the Christians nor Muslims, but the government. The ultimate target of the Boko Haram is the state of Nigeria, Christians or Muslims are collateral damages. What they want is not to kill Christians and Muslims, no. What they want is just to take political control of Nigeria and until we begin to understand this for what it is, we would not know what we are talking about Boko Haram. Killing, maiming and bombing are only means to an end and that end is to take political control of Nigeria. So people should banish from their mind any thought the idea that it is possible for a government to collaborate with Boko Haram. Very soon, we sense President Buhari would appoint ministers, and put structures in place but looking at the criteria set for any nominee to scale through, do you think it would not be difficult getting such standard for him as ministers, board members and the rest of them? I am asking this question against the background of report that out of over 30 nominees for ministerial position only three scaled through security screening? That report I do'’t know where they got it from. Look, I want to posit that there are enough men of integrity in and outside our party, there are enough patriots in and outside our party that can serve in Buhari administration. I have no doubt about that. You see you don't tar everybody with the same brush. Oh yes, there might be a few bad eggs, there might be a few people who are not upright, but it wrong to say you cannot find people in the whole Nigeria that can serve this administration. The only thing is that you have to make more thorough search and that is what the president is doing. The National Assembly has been in turmoil and the issues do not appear settled. Exactly, just tell us in brief what the problem is all about because what we heard was that the APC was also part of the problem. What I have always told people when they ask me question about the National Assembly crisis is that I am not a factional spokesperson for APC, I am the APC spokesperson and as such, my role is to promote APC and if there is any crisis in APC, it is not for me to externalise it. My answer is that, just as we used internal mechanism within the party to resolve crisis in the House of Representatives, we would use the same for Senate and we would resolve that and you will not hear of crisis in National Assembly anymore. The fuel crisis is still on, when will government lend its hand to reverse the situation for Nigerians so that they will buy fuel without hindrance at filling stations? I think the issue of fuel scarcity goes beyond queuing and getting fuel. You see, it is a very fundamental issue. For as long as you depend on importation of refined products, then you will be subject to the vicissitudes of supply and demand, foreign exchange fluctuations, the price fluctuation in the market and all the like. Now, the ultimate solution is what we are looking at which is making our own refineries to work. We have the raw material, we have the equipment, we have the knowledge, we have the expertise, we have done it before when we used to refine our crude and we even used to export, so this is what we are doing. The issue is not about subsidy removal or subsidy addition, no, the issue is when can you be self-sufficient? We have four refineries worth of refining 445,000 barrels of crude per day, which are allocated to our refineries. How many liters can you get from these 445,000 barrels of crude? Once we get our refineries working optimally, there would be less dependence on imported fuel and then there would be more availability of fuel. I am happy to say that as of today, the refinery in Port-Harcourt and Warri are working at between 50 and 60 per cent capacities. Kaduna Refinery told us yesterday that by March 2016, Nigeria would be saving $5million a day because they would be producing not only kerosene, diesel but also PMS. So watch out. Our ultimate goal is to make our refineries work within the minimum time possible and we are at it. We want to assure that by the end of this year, they would be near optimum capacity in most of our refineries.

Former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, gave a very alarming picture of Nigeria's refineries. There was a question thrown at him suggesting that some of our refineries are back, he replied where? That they are scraps, and that as soon as they work, they become comatose. Your optimism is based on relying on our local refineries but somebody like Obasanjo who knows very well, said there is no hope. I am not going to take on Obasanjo whether he is right or wrong, I am quoting a report which came from Kaduna refineries which I can show you here that by March 2016, Nigerian will be saving $5 million a day because they would have hit 90 per cent of their capacity and I have no reasons to disbelieve them. What I am saying is that whatever it is, our refineries must work. What is wrong with our refineries, are they older than other refineries that are working elsewhere in the world?

But the truth of the matter is that as of today, our refineries are working and the ultimate is that they should work optimally and we would be less dependent on imported fuel. What is more embarrassing is that countries that do not have oil are refining products and sending to us.

The PDP and APC engaged in altercation concerning claim to achievements. For instance, the opposition claimed that power supply is now stable in certain parts of the country without Buhari's contribution. I don't know, you want to appropriate somebody else's achievements as your own when you don't have your own. We have our own achievements which I have rolled out to you, so why would we go out to appropriate somebody else's achievements? You see, for opposition to be credible, or to be relevant, everything it does must be based on facts and it must also show clear understanding of how government works. Now, are you going to say that as of today, if Jonathan's administration had started, like he started the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway, and it is now completed, that Buhari administration has no moral right to commission it. It has moral right for many reasons.

Number one, the Buhari administration could decide not to continue with the project if it so wants. I am just saying that, that might be a bad example. Government is a continuum, both by assets and liabilities. It was talking about polio, wait a minute, all Buhari did was to give a charge to the Ministry of Health that by the end of this year, polio must be eradicated and that we are happy to say that the last polio strand was discovered many months ago. He did not appropriate anybody's achievements to himself. But more importantly is that the PDP said we have not added any megawatts to power, why are we claiming the success that power is more stable, why are the refineries working, were they the ones that started the turnaround maintenance? You see the statements are self-indicting. If we have not added single megawatts, how come power is now more stable? In other words it is the same megawatts that we inherited that are on, how come power is now more stable? It is the same refineries that were not working under you that are now working, how come? It is about leadership, pure and simple. The Nigerian people have now seen a leader who is honest, who is transparent, who is committed and they are cooperating with him. The Nigerian workers have now seen a leader who would not be corrupt so they are afraid to be corrupt also. They have seen a leader who would not condone sabotage, so sabotage is on the decline, so it is about the nation. People are now saying this is a new era, the game now is about transparency, it is about accountability, everybody knows that he would be held accountable for what he does and that is why you have seen an improvement.

Part of the campaign promises of APC is that they were going to be feeding children in schools and that they were going to set aside billions of naira to pay those who have no jobs, are you still going to fulfill that?

By the grace of God, by the grace of God, absolutely. You see, as I told you, we were elected for four years not four months, so judge us at the end of four years whether we have redeemed our campaign promises or not. But I can assure that those issues, one meal a day, conditional transfer payment to the vulnerable Nigerians, are still very much on our agenda.

hat is your advice to President Buhari, to the politicians both within the APC and outside it and then to Nigerians?

President Buhari should remain focused and not to be distracted by noise. To politicians, this is a new era, this is an era of service and sacrifice. This is not a government where you can come and make personal fortunes, it is a government where you will come and make contributions and sacrifices. To Nigerians, we want to assure you that you are going to witness the change we promised and a positive one for that matter.