Nigeria facing security challenges, does not make it a failed state —Lai Mohammed

The fallout from the statement accredited to President Muhammadu Buhari regarding a Civil War in the South-East rages as the Federal Government slammed critics who tagged Nigeria ‘a failed state’ due to its present insecurity situation.

This was contained in a statement issued on Thursday by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

This was in response to a recent declaration by the Council on Foreign Affairs (CFA) in the U.S. that “Nigeria is at a point of no return with all the signs of a failed nation’’.

The minister stated that “Just because Nigeria is facing security challenges, which we have acknowledged and which we are tackling, does not automatically make the country a failed state”.

According to Mohammed, the declaration by the Council did not represent an official U.S. policy.

“This declaration is merely the opinions of two persons, former U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria and a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations John Campbell, and the President Emeritus of World Peace Foundation, Robert Rotberg.

“Declaring any nation a failed state is not done at the whims and caprices of one or two persons, no matter their status.

“Just because Nigeria is facing security challenges, which we have acknowledged and which we are tackling, does not automatically make the country a failed state,’’ he said.

“Yes, the Council on Foreign Relations is a prominent U.S. public policy Think Tank, but its opinion is not that of the U.S.

“Like former U.S. Senator Daniel Moynihan said, ”You are entitled to your opinion but not your facts”.

The minister noted that it was not the first time it was predicted that Nigeria would fail or break up.

“We were even once told that Nigeria would break up in 2015.

“But their doomsday predictions have all failed and will fail again,’’ he said.