MINISTER of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has reassured that Nigeria cannot go the way of Afghanistan where the Taliban has taken the rein of power.
The minister stated this in Washington DC during his engagements with international media organisations including BBC radio and television, Bloomberg and Politico.
Mohammed is in the US to meet with international media organisations and think tanks on the achievements of the Buhari administration and efforts made so far in tackling insurgency, banditry and all form of criminality.
Speaking with NAN after his respective meetings with the three media organisations, Mohammed said insinuations that the security situation in Nigeria could degenerate to that of Afghanistan was not correct.
“Nigeria is not and will not be a failed state. Yes, we have challenges in some corners of the country but that has not made Nigeria a failed state.
“A failed state is one where basic facilities are not available and everything has broken down but, Nigeria is not in that stage,” he said.
Mohammed said Nigeria is not at war, adding that fake news and disinformation was being used to portray the country in precarious situation.
“If what happened in Afghanistan is something to go by, then the Federal Government should be given kudos for the way it has handled insurgency in the last couple of years.
“The lessons from Afghanistan today is that for over 20 years of American intervention and over a trillion-dollar spent and thousands of American lives lost, it took the Taliban just few weeks to recapture Afghanistan.
“This should be a lesson for everybody that when you are fighting an insurgency or movement driven by ideology, it is always difficult to overcome and you must be resourceful, deploying both kinetic and non-kinetic approaches.
“When people were saying we should invite mercenaries, the president was focused and maintained that our military has what it takes.
“The President should be given kudos for believing in our military and deploying both kinetic and non-kinetic approaches,” he said.
Mohammed said while a lot of efforts had been put into kinetic approach, the Nigerian military also engaged in non-kinetic approach, building hospitals, reviving schools, teaching in some of the schools and delivering medical care to the people in affected areas.
According to the minister, the non-kinetic approach to fighting insurgency in the northeast had led to droves of insurgents coming out to surrender arms and pledge their loyalty to the government.
