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Tag: Lai Mohammed

  • FEC approves N30 billion for mining

    FEC approves N30 billion for mining

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved N30 billion intervention fund for mining exploration in the country.

    The Minister of Mining and Steel Development, Kayode Fayemi disclosed this to State House correspondents at the end of FEC meeting presided by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    He was accompanied by the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed and Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi.

    Fayemi said that the fund that will come from 1.68% of the Federation Account will mainly focus on mining exploration.

    He said: “FEC rectified the president’s anticipatory approval for Ministry of Mines and Steel Development to qualify to access the national resources fund.

    “You will recall that in August FEC approved the road map for the growth and development of the mining sector.

    “In recognition of Mr. President’s campaigns promises to Nigerians‎ and in particular his consistent statement to diversification particularly in agriculture and mining sector, Council ratified the approval of N30 billion intervention fund for the mining sector. It will be highly focused on exploration. Exploration is the heart of mining, if you don’t search you won’t find.

    “You have heard all sorts of talks about how rich Nigeria is in mineral resources but the quantity, quality, the geological prospectively has been a challenge because we have neglected  the sector for such a long time.” He said

    He also said that there is need for investment grade geological data if Nigeria must attract mining investment into the country.

    According to him, smaller countries like Burkina Faso spend averagely $300 million a year on exploration.

    He added: “This is why Council approved this for mining and this is significant because this is the accessing of natural source development fund which has been made 1.68 per cent of the federation account. It is an equivalent of the ecological fund and the Education Trust Fund.

    “It is meant primarily for agriculture sector, mining sector and the water resources sector. And this will cover exploration primarily but also research and development in partnership with our universities, it will also cover security and mining in partnership with the ministries of Interior and Defence and the DSS just to tackle the menace of illegal mining across the country. It will also support small scale miners with grants,” he stated

    The Council, he said, also stressed the importance of inter-ministerial coordination and for the Ministry to work with the ministries of transportation, power, works and housing, environment on safer mining practices and ministry of health ‎to help build a multi-sectoral focus on mining and also encourage private sector investment in the sector.

    He said that the government is already in negotiation with sovereign investment on mining in order ‎to access private capital to mining and the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

    The guidelines, he said, will be ready in a month’s time.

    Amaechi disclosed that the Council approved advisers that would sit to negotiate with General Electric (GE) towards concessioning the railway.

    ‎He said: “For the Transport sector I’m sure you are aware of an attempt to concessioned the Railway to General Electric (GE), Council approved the advisers that would sit with GE as our own experts to negotiate.

    “The narrow Gauge railway will to a great extent assist the agriculture, mines and steel development ministries in the transportation of the extracted minerals. We are rehabilitating at no cost to government the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri, which include Port Harcourt, Aba, Umuahia, Enugu, Makurdi, Jos, Gombe, Bauchi to Borno.

    “Then Lagos to Kano will include Lagos, Abeokuta, Ibadan, ‎Ilorin, Kano, Funtua, Zaria and to Kaura Namoda, we are rehabilitating all of them.

    “It is essentially ‎to encourage freight movement, we have over 30 million worth of freight on the Lagos Kano route for which presently we are moving slightly above 100 tones. While the Port Harcourt to Maiduguri is currently moving nothing but we are anticipating 11 million tones that can be moved from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri.” He said

    According to him, the rehabilitation will encourage movement of cargos and passengers‎.

    He said that GE will do everything required to rehabilitate and invest on other railway infrastructure.

    “GE is proposing to manage for 25 years‎ to recover their investments. Nigerian government has not agreed and that is what our advisers will sit with GE to agree,” he added.

    The advisers, he said, included African finance corporations.

  • Lai Mohammed gives AIFF 2016 kudos

    Lai Mohammed gives AIFF 2016 kudos

    THE minster of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has called on Nigerian filmmakers to maintain the enviable standard of making the industry a reference point of a robust film sector in Africa.

    Mohammed who declared the festival open on Tuesday, October 4, commended the organisers for sustaining the festival which was first held in 20103.

    “The film festival has turned out to be a very good tourism for people outside the country to come and see what we have as a country. We are not only good at producing films but also good at making use of it. Film industry, I believe we soon become the cynosure for other countries. Nigeria film industry has and we always be a point of reference to other film industry in Africa,” the Minister said.

    Speaking on its theme, Connecting Global Audiences, convener of the festival, Fidelis Duker, a front line filmmaker said that it is a way to get closer to the people via film showing.

    The 4-day festival, witnessed series of activities including screening of films, workshop and seminars. It had in attendance film makers from across Africa and beyond.

    In attendance to add glitz and glamour to the festival were Nollywood icons like Richard Mofe-Damijo, Paul Obasele, Zach Orji, Segun Arinze, prolific director Lanceot Imaseun, and many A list actors and actresses outside the continent.

    Meanwhile, the festival came to its glamorous ending with the award for individual actor and films makers. The highlight of it was the emergency of Judith Audu Nollywood actress and a producer who carted home the Best Actress for her role in her debut feature production, Just Not Married.

    Receiving the award, the excited actress said that she feels blessed getting recognition like this at a time when so much is happening with the movie.

    Since the release of the movie, Just Not Married has fetched the actress accolades from several quarters.

  • Lai Mohammed vows to combat piracy

    Lai Mohammed vows to combat piracy

    The Minister for information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has expressed optimism that the days of movie piracy in Nigeria are at an end saying the ministry will not combat piracy with the same old tools but will employ modern methods to aid and reinforce the traditional methods.

    He made this statement yesterday at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Tony Elumelu Foundation at the National Theatre in Iganmu, which will see the Foundation pump in $100 million to develop the creative industry in the country.

    He said: “We will move from analogue to digital broadcasting, but we will also reinforce the traditional methods. The president is not happy with the issue of piracy in the industry and he plans to constitute a committee to combat piracy.”

    He explained that not only movie piracy, but also the theft and illegal sale of art works and monuments are detrimental to the development of the sector, revealing that a recent attempt to auction a Nigerian artwork was recently busted.

    The minister also affirmed his interest in revitalising the creative industry. He said: “I have always said the creative industries must be transformed to a creative economy for it to contribute more meaningfully to the nation’s GDP, provide jobs for our teeming youths, and also become a source of foreign exchange earnings in the country.”

    Citing the creative industries’ contributions in the United States, India, Turkey, Brazil, Dubai, and Australia towards them economic giants as examples, he added that Nigeria can replicate the same feat with the partnership of the private sector such as the Tony Elumelu Foundation.

    On the benefits of the partnership, the minister commented that the collaboration plans to structure the creative industry to enable it generate independent revenues locally and also boost export to increase Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings. The MoU will also enable the creation of a Creative Economy Task Force to map the creative industry and provide a better picture of what is happening, and to help inform policy development.

    According to Tony Elumelu, founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, the MoU was to cement a partnership between the Federal Government and the private sector to develop the creative industry. He noted that the creative sector generated about 1.42% of the country’s annual GDP, which amounts to $2 billion.

    Explaining further, he said: “If a sector that has not been so supported and encouraged can generate this much, then you can imagine the possibilities when the kind of support we envisage comes in. So this is one sector that can do a lot to help in diversifying the economy.”

    He expressed aversion to the belief that that the business of development in the country should be left to the public sector, commenting that the private sector also has a key role to play in the development of African and Nigeria through long-term investments.

    Meanwhile, the entrepreneur and philanthropist disclosed that the creative industry holds the country’s next generation of entrepreneurs, hence the Foundation’s decision to empower the industry with $100 million over the course of ten years.

  • Tourism, creative industry ‘new oil’, says Lai Mohammed

    Tourism, creative industry ‘new oil’, says Lai Mohammed

    THE Minister of Information, Culture and National Orientation, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said that tourism is very important for Nigeria in the prevailing period of economic diversification as it, with the creative industries, represents the new oil for the nation’s economy. He described tourism as the low-hanging fruit that the nation could develop to help  the economy fight recession.

    He made the statement during the national celebration of the World Tourism Day (WTD) in Eko Atlantic City, Lagos. He said: “As the federal government works day and night to pull Nigeria out of recession and put our economy on the path of sustainable growth, it is becoming increasingly clear, like President Muhammadu Buhari admonished, that we must think out of the box. We must find other sustainable means of earning foreign exchange outside of oil, to grow our country’s GDP and create jobs for our people. Agriculture and mining are viable options but tourism is the low-hanging fruit in this regard, and we must not hesitate to pluck it.”

    Speaking on the Eko Atlantic City, the minister said: “The venue we have chosen for this year’s celebration, Eko Atlantic City, attests to this fact. While I will like to reiterate Nigeria’s readiness to explore and exploit tourism for the benefit of its economy, I can confidently add that Eko Atlantic City has what it takes to drive tourism in Nigeria. And this is just as well, because while the role of the government will be to provide the enabling environment, the private sector will drive the growth of tourism. This is a win-win model for the government and the private sector, and I commend Eko Atlantic for being in the forefront of actualising this mode.

    “For those who may not know, Eko Atlantic, when completed, will be a tourist haven. The city will boast of 450, 000 residents and 300, 000 commuters, which is a boon for the myriad businesses to be located in the city. In addition, it will have a registered Free Economic Zone to encourage economic activities.

    “As you are also aware, shopping malls attract tourists the way bees are attracted to honey. The shopping mall here in Eko Atlantic will be the largest of its kind in Sub-Saharan Africa. The 10 million square metres of space in the city will also boast an impressive retail layout for shopping, vast amenities for entertainment such as food courts, cinemas and playgrounds, an ample parking space and a canal that can be used for water transportation and water sports.

    “Nigerians who are looking for relaxation spots and exquisite shopping malls will no longer need to jet to Dubai and similar destinations, because Eko Atlantic City will be a better destination than Dubai. This is not a joke! Whereas you can only comfortably soak in the sights and sounds of Dubai for a maximum of four months every year due to the prevailing inclement weather there, Eko Atlantic City offers, in addition to the massive shopping mall, 365 days of sunshine and clement weather.

    “This is an added incentive for foreign tourists. In short, the city will have everything you need for tourism to thrive: security, modern infrastructure, good weather, uninterrupted power supply, potable water supply, etc.”

    The World Tourism Day is an annual celebration by the United Nation’s World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) slated for September  27.

  • FG yet to decide on assets sale – Lai Mohammed

    FG yet to decide on assets sale – Lai Mohammed

    The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on Wednesday said the Federal Government was yet to decide on sale of any national asset.

    He said it was immaterial that the National Economic Council (NEC) chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo last Thursday supported measures including plans to generate immediate larger injection of fund into the economy through asset sales, advance payment of license renewals, infrastructure concessioning and use of recovered funds to reduce funding gaps and implementation of Fiscal Stimulus/Budget Priorities.

    The final decision on assets sale, he said, will only be taken by the Federal Executive Council.

    He spoke with State House correspondents at the end of FEC meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    Mohammed was accompanied by the Minister of Water Resources, Sulaiman Adamu.

    The minister said: “Government is still working on the most comprehensive manner to reflate the economy and the government will make its position known very soon.

    “What the government will do is to reflate the economy, everything you have heard so far is just suggestion, until the government makes its position known. All these reports of assets sale, assets leasing and whatever is being bandied about, are nothing but speculations.

    “The government is yet to come out with its position on how to bail out the economy and it will take that position.

    “NEC will recommend but it is the Federal Executive Council that will decide and what we decide will be the position of government.”

     

     

  • PDP’s call for Buhari’s resignation distractive – Minister

    The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, on Thursday described the call by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for President Muhammadu Buhari to resign as “irritant and attempt to distract the government from its rescue mission.’’

    Mohammed, who said this in a statement in Abuja, assured that the government will not be deterred by such calls.

    “We are on a rescue mission to resuscitate Nigeria after the PDP left it in a coma, and the noise from the same PDP seems designed to sabotage the rescue efforts. But we are not deterred,” the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoted the minister as saying in the statement.

    “While the PDP was emasculating Nigeria on all fronts, including social, economic and political, the rapacious party was deceiving Nigerians by giving them the illusion of growth and prosperity.

    “Instead of showing remorse and rebuilding itself to a strong opposition party, the PDP has continued to blame the successor Buhari administration which is left to pack their mess.

    “PDP undertakers have continued to engage in a blame game, when they should be hiding from the shame they brought upon themselves and the nation.”

    Mohammed said government could not stop talking about the past maladministration of the PDP because of its dire effects on the economy and the need to prevent reoccurrence.

    “The candid truth is that we failed under the successive PDP administrations to save for the rainy day, and we need to constantly remind ourselves of that so that we won’t repeat the mistake,’’ he stated.

    The minister said the government was still trying to recover huge sums looted from the national treasury under the PDP’s watch, with 15 billion dollars stolen from the defence sector alone.

    He noted that because of the way funds (about $322m) returned from Switzerland were mishandled government had to accept certain conditions before the stolen fund could be remitted.

    Mohammed faulted the purported claim by the PDP that it reduced the nation’s national debt.

    He added: “At the time that we were earning such large revenues from oil, we only managed to double our external debt from $5.6 billion to $10.7 billion between 2011 and 2015.

    “The case of domestic debt was even worse, almost tripling from N888 billion to N2.1 trillion in the same period.

    “Even these figures mask the extent of unpaid obligations to contractors and the huge plethora of uncompleted projects on which money continued to be spent without visible results.

    “Payments to contractors stopped several years ago, while not a single dollar was contributed to the Joint Venture activities.”

  • Over-dependence on oil Nigeria’s bane – Minister

    The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, on Tuesday said Nigeria’s over-dependence on oil was responsible for the nation’s present economic challenges.

    Mohammed stated this at a news briefing held at his residence in Oro, Irepodun local government area of Kwara State.

    He said the prevailing economic situation was not about trading blames, pointing out that “those who understand knew that this recession was bound to happen in such circumstance.”

    He added that the crash in global price of oil exposed the country’s defective economic policy, with oil accounting for over 60 per cent of the nation’s Growth Domestic Product (GDP).

    The minister stated that the situation was further compounded by inadequate reserve to cushion the effect of oil “misfortunes’’ on the country.

    “We have a very defective economic structure, which depended largely on a single platform of crude oil and fuel,” the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoted the minister as saying at the briefing.

    “Crude oil accounts for between eight and 12 per cent of our GDP and another 53 per cent of the GDP which we call non-oil, unfortunately also depend on the same oil.

    “When the price of oil now crashes in the international market, definitely you are bound to have this kind of shock in the economy.”

    He decried the citizens’ preference for imported goods to local products, saying substantial amount of the country’s foreign exchange earnings was being expended on importation of goods and services.

     

  • I didn’t plagiarise Change Begins With Me campaign, says Lai Mohammed

    I didn’t plagiarise Change Begins With Me campaign, says Lai Mohammed

    Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed yesterday said the Change Begins With Me campaign was not a product of plagiarism.

    He said although he received over 20 proposals, he told all those concerned that he had already concluded work on the project.

    He said as at October 31, 2015, all radio jingles and TV commercials had been completed.

    Mohammed spoke exclusively with our correspondent following allegation by two media consultants, Akin Fadeyi and Omor Bazuaye that the Minister plagiarised their ideas and turned same to Change Begins With Me.

    But the Minister described the allegation as ridiculous and baseless.

    He said: “The Change Begins With Me campaign is entirely my creation and nobody including Akin Fadeyi can claim I borrowed his or her idea or accuse me of plagiarism.

    “I will forward to you irrefutable proof that I started  working on the Change Begins With Me concept a few days after my nomination as a minister and by the 12th of October 2015. A day after I appeared before the Senate for confirmation, Mr. Brian Ebden, the Communication Marketing Consultant working with me sent me an email which you will receive(dated the same October 12) referring to the completed work on the Change Begins With Me campaign.

    “I will send to your email address confirmatory and irrefutable proof that by the 31st of October 2015 all radio jingles and TV commercials had been completed.”

    Mohammed said having completed all the radio jingles and TV commercials for Change Begins With Me campaign on October 31st 2015, it was unthinkable that Akin Fadeyi who was sent to him in December 2015 would allege that he stole his ideas.

    He added: “Akin Fadeyi was sent to me by a former Editor of ThisDay only in December 2015 or January 2016.

    “You will also receive evidence that I met with top leading Nigerian musicians and producers like Tiwa Savage, Sunny Ade, KWAM 2, Don Jazzy, PSquare and many others at the Southern Sun Hotel in December 2015 seeking their cooperation in the Change Begins With Me Campaign.

    “How then can anyone suggest from the above evidence that I stole Akin Fadeyi or anybody’s idea in respect of this campaign.

    “It will interest you that as of today, there are two other people claiming that I stole their ideas in respect of this project.

    “While it is true that I received over 20 proposals across the country, including from eminent TV giants like Jimmy Johnson (alias Okoro), I told each and every one of them that I had already concluded work on the project.

    “It is to the credit of Mr. Jimmy Johnson that despite being one of the first to approach me with his proposal, he was one of the first to congratulate me on the successful launch of the campaign. He is alive; you can corroborate my story with him.

    In an article, Omor Bazuaye accused the Minister of plagiarizing their concept, “NOT IN MY COUNTRY” and changed it to Change Begins With Me.”

    Bazuaye said: “We received with utter shock and disbelief attempt by the Federal Government through its Ministry of Information and National Orientation to clone and plagiarize our work, “NOT IN MY COUNTRY”, in what it now calls “Change Begins With Me”.

    “Only a few days ago Nigeria celebrated the arrival of Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook into the country.

    “Zuckerberg developed something extraordinary and revolutionized the IT world. He came to Nigeria looking for and to give courage to emerging stars.

    “I had written then that Nigeria has a “jungle fever” that allows it to always celebrate what is foreign as against the ingenuity of its own people.

    “While we rolled out the drums and even engaged in what Zuckerberg wore or ate in his brief stay in Nigeria; my attention shifted to Nigerians doing remarkable things yet ignored or abandoned.

    “There is the case of John Obaro who created the software for Treasury Single Account (TSA). What did he get? He received the biggest scorn of his life.

    “What I didn’t realize was that I could become the next victim until Thursday, the 8th of September, 2016 when I saw that the idea we dropped in the office of the honourable Minister of Information and National Orientation, Lai Mohammed; what seems a perfect replica of it was being launched by the Minister without the consent of the real originators.”

  • Economic recession: FG on top of situation, says Lai Mohammed

    Economic recession: FG on top of situation, says Lai Mohammed

    Nigerians should entertain no fear about the economic recession in the country, Information and Culture Minister  Lai Mohammed said yesterday.

    The Federal Government is on top of the situation, he said at a forum of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

    He also dismissed as preposterous calls by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the resignation of President Muhammadu Buhari on account of the economic crisis.

    “What I can assure you is that we are on top of the situation and we are confident that the second half of the year will be better than the previous,” the minister said, pointing out that the development was not new to the government.

    He added: “One thing we cannot take away from this government is that it is open, honest and will not keep Nigerians in the dark.

    “About a month ago, the Minister of Finance actually told all of us that we are already technically in recession.

    “Recession is not an event; it is a process. We knew more than five years ago that the country is heading towards recession because the structure of our economy is faulty.

    “It is faulty in the sense that for many years, we have relied in one product, crude oil.”

    He also said that the crash in the price of crude oil and the activities of militants in the Niger Delta region which brought down production contributed in no small measure to the crisis with the country losing about 60 per cent of its earnings.

    “Crude oil that used to sell for about 100 dollars per barrel is today between 40 and 45 dollars per barrel.

    “The 2016 budget projected 2.2 million barrels per day at 38 dollars. But because of the activities of the militants in the Niger Delta region, we are down to 1.2 to 1.4 million per barrels a day.

    “We have lost about one third of production capacity.

    “Combine all these together, we are heading for recession especially when there is no reserve to cushion the effects, “he said.

    Besides, the minister said the nation’s economy was driven by consumption and not by investment or production.

    He, therefore, appealed to Nigerians to curb their appetite, particularly for foreign goods, and patronise made-in-Nigeria products.

    He said government on its part would continue to provide incentives to encourage manufacturers and ensure that the cost of doing business is competitive.

    Mohammed noted that the NBC report was not all gloomy as the nation recorded growth in agriculture and in the solid minerals sectors.

    “Even in the face of the deficit, we made growth in agriculture which records 4.5 per cent growth and solid minerals which records 3.9 per cent growth.

    “On the good side again is that we can see in agriculture that we have surplus in agriculture produce and what is of concern to us is how to mop up this.

    “The report also indicates that in the area of investments, we are higher even than what it was in 2010,” he said.

    The minister explained that the positive side of the report was an indication that the policies and programmes of the government on diversification of the economy were yielding fruits.

    Faulting calls for the resignation of President Buhari by the PDP over the economy ,Mohammed said: “It is very painful in a situation where the armed robber is now the one sympathizing with the victim.

    “I read in the dailies that the PDP said that the President must resign because of the economy.

    “While we are not going to indulge in blame game, I think we should also be honest enough to admit that we would not have been where we are today, if they had done what they ought to do.

    “For the party to ask the President to resign is just a big joke.’’

    Drawing compassion between Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, another oil producing country,the minister said: “Agree that Nigeria is not the only country hit by the recession and crash in price of crude, but other countries made savings.

    “Saudi Arabia today has about 600 billion dollars in reserve and this is by planning and saving for the future which the past administration failed to do during surplus.

    “This is not about blaming other administration, but we believe that one should be honest when criticising.’’

    Mohammed then said the Federal Government would do everything possible to bring the country out of the economic crisis.

    The minister said the looted funds recovered so far by the current administration is a far cry from what the country needs to revive the economy.

     “What we have recovered and if my record is right, is about N78 billion and $3 million. We have been able to block various accounts in which about $9 billion dollars was found, but those are not money available to us because we are still in court over them,” he said.

    “The government spends N165 billion every month to pay federal civil servants, even what has been so far recovered will not even pay 50 per cent of the salaries in a month.’’

    Mohammed assured Nigerians that every penny recovered will be judiciously spent and nobody could “re-loot it” under this administration.

    He asked Nigerians to understand that what had been recovered was so little compared to what the people needed on a continuous basis.

  • Airtel, Osinbajo, Zuckerberg hail Aso Villa demo day winners

    Airtel, Osinbajo, Zuckerberg hail Aso Villa demo day winners

    Telecommunications services provider, Airtel Nigeria; Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo and Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, have commended all the participants of the Aso Villa Demo Day, a presidential initiative aimed at promoting entrepreneurship and innovation through the use of new and emerging technologies.

    Airtel, one of the major sponsors of the initiative, endowed and presented cash prizes to the top three participants.

    Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Nigeria, Segun Ogunsanya congratulated the winners and reaffirmed Airtel’s commitment to pioneering innovation in the telecoms industry as well as seeking credible platforms to support the Nigerian government and the country’s youth.

    Speaking at the event, the Vice President Vice President, Osinbajo congratulated all the participants, saying they are all winners.

    While lauding the country’s youth for their innovation, creativity, drive and entrepreneurial spirit, the Vice President said there is so much hope in what the young generation can do.

    He also hinted that the Federal Government is currently exploring ways to cooperate with Facebook in the next few months.

    Zuckerberg, in his submission, said it is inspiring to see what young Nigerians have done in terms of app development and use of technology.

    He said his trip to Nigeria has blown him away in terms of the talents he sees across the country. He noted that Nigerian youth will not just shape the country but will shape the whole world.

    Aso Villa Demo Day is aimed at promoting entrepreneurship, innovation, job creation and economic growth through the use of new and emerging technologies. An initiative of the Presidency, the maiden edition celebrated some of the best Nigerians in technology innovation and creativity and also featured inspiring talks from thought leaders and experts from different economic sectors in Nigeria.

    The colourful prize presentation ceremony, which held at the Aso Villa on Friday, was attended by Ogunsanya, Prof. Osinbajo, Zuckerberg, the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed; the minister of Communication, Barrister Adebayo Shittu and Chief Executives drawn from different sectors across corporate Nigeria.