Minister says Buhari is not a woman hater

The Minister of finance, Kemi Adeosun has spoken up for her boss, President Buhari, following the bashing he received for saying his wife, Aisha Buhari belongs to the kitchen.

Buhari slammed his wife for alleging that some powerful people who did not work for him to come to power, have taken over his government.

Adeosun said Buhari is not a woman hater, adding that the presence of women in his cabinet is an attestation to the fact.

According to her, “I think the fact that he has appointed women into very senior positions says his view about women. I work with him very closely and I don’t see any misogynistic tendencies in him; in fact if for anything, I think he is very much in favour of women.”

The minister also denied reports alleging that she stated that the country will come out of recession in six months.

She said “I didn’t say six months, I have refused to give a date and what I have said consistently is that we have to invest in infrastructure to get growth back again. Who is going to predict when we are going to come out of recession? It is a function of many things. It is a function of global oil prices and how the economy responds to the spending stimulus. What we have said consistently is that if we stick to the plan that growth will return.

“We are doing the Affordable Housing Programme and the contractors have just moved to site this week and that is aimed at addressing the cost of living issue.

“We understand the peoples pain and what we are trying to do is spend our money in a way that addresses that pain.”

Speaking on what the government is doing to put Nigeria’s economy back on its feet, Adeosun added that “We have released about N720 billion in about four months and that is the highest ever and we are still going to do more in investing in infrastructure because that is what has held Nigeria back.

“For a number of years and almost for a whole generation we were moving in the wrong direction depending on oil, we didn’t invest in infrastructure. And everyone has known about the power challenges in Nigeria, the road challenges, the health challenges and the only thing that was just keeping us up was the high oil price and the high oil price has been stripped away and we have been laid bare, so it is going to take a bit of time to recover.”

Meanwhile, the Deputy Minority Whip of the Senate, Senator Biodun Olujimi, said Buhari’s comment about his wife reflects the composition of his government and the disdain to which women are held by the President.