WE’RE NOT WEAK, FG DEFENDS UKRAINE AID

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, has said that Nigeria’s decision to accept grains from Ukraine does not mean the country is weak or a failed state.

It will be recalled that the Labour Party, LP, presidential candidate, Peter Obi, had condemned the decision of Nigeria to accept grains as donation from Ukraine.

Obi had described Ukraine’s grain donation to Nigeria as disheartening.

Reacting at the Leadership Annual Conference and Award 2023 on Tuesday in Abuja, the minister dismissed such claim, stressing that Egypt was not a failed state despite getting about 60 percent of its grains from Ukraine.

According to Idris: “Egypt gets about 60 percent of its grains from Ukraine. The fact that Egypt gets about 60 percent of its grains from Ukraine does not make it a failed state.

“The fact that we are having challenges at the moment does not make Nigeria a failed state.

“Therefore, accepting grains from Ukraine does not make Nigeria or Egypt failed countries.

“It is a normal thing because countries exist to depend on one another.

“It is true that Nigeria is facing some challenges and President Bola Tinubu is aware of this and he has been making efforts to address the situation.

“Nigerians voted for Tinubu with the deeper understanding and conviction that he has the capacity to turn things around for the better and that is what he is doing.”