The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, has faulted the blame heaped on President Muhammadu Buhari by former President Olusegun Obasanjo for the hardship Nigerians are going through.
The Eagle Online recalls that Obasanjo had in a letter on January 1, 2023 said Nigerians were living in hell under Buhari.
Reacting to the position of the former president, Ngige, who spoke on Tuesday in his hometown, Alor, Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State during the annual distribution of Christmas largesse by his Chris Ngige Foundation to APC members, the indigent, widows and aged, said the current government should not be blamed much for the hardship in food and energy in the country because it is not restricted to Nigeria alone but happening all over the world.
He explained that Nigeria’s African neighbours: Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and South Africa, were not insulated from the hardship, ditto the United Kingdom and other developed economies of Europe and America.
He said: “I am part of this government and when I start talking, people will say that ‘he will defend the government because he is part of it’.
“Yes, I must defend the government because I’m inside and I know the hard work put in to ameliorate this hardship we are seeing.
“It is also world over as the cost of living is up and there are low and middle-class agitations everywhere, especially among the working class.
“It is not only in Nigeria.
“So, don’t mind those politicians who will come and say that the Buhari government inflicted hardship and poverty on you.
“One of them wrote a letter the other day, the habitual National letter writer.
“He said Buhari brought Nigeria below the 1999 level.
“How can somebody say that?
“The same person ruled from 1999 to 2007.
“What did he do to change here to Eldorado when he was in charge?
“It is easy to criticise.
“It is easy for spectators in the field of play to say they would have scored a goal if they were in the field of play.
“As a spectator, when the ball is in the penalty box, you move your legs as if you are the one playing.
“But, when they throw you inside there, you discover that the game is man-to-man. It is 90 minutes of man versus man.
“It is no longer a question of talking or clapping from the sideline.
“So, when politicians, especially our elder statesmen do this kind of write-up, you start asking yourself whether they want our country to remain in peace or be torn to pieces.
“I don’t like it.
“Chief Obasanjo is somebody I respect (and who we should all respect) a lot, but after reading his letter twice, I took exception to that aspect, criticising a government trying to finish very well and strong, working assiduously.
“It is not good.”
Speaking further, Ngige decried the claim by Obasanjo that Nigeria today has been dragged well below Nigeria at the beginning of his presidency in 1999.
He recalled that while serving as the Governor of Anambra State, the same Obasanjo, who was then president, said he was going to construct the Second Niger Bridge and even sent the late Chairman of Gitto Lodziani to meet him and his Delta State counterpart with proposals, including that the two states will bear the cost of construction, but ultimately failed to do so, owing to lack of commitment.
Ngige added: “After they drove me away from the governorship position, he (Obasanjo) took the then Delta State Governor, James Ibori, Emmanuel Uduaghan, who was taking over from Ibori, then Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, and Andy Uba, his anointed successor for Obi in 2007, to turn the sod of the Second Niger Bridge.
“This happened during the PDP (Peoples Democratic Party) presidential campaign in 2007, and yet, they didn’t do the bridge.
“Successive Federal governments didn’t do it.
“I was the one who brought Buhari to South East people in 2015.
“While we were laying our campaign manifesto, as the South East Zonal Coordinator, I told the General that the bridge is very important to our people and the entire South up to North Central.
“The General asked if we can do it and I said, ‘why not?’
“The same question he asked at the Ziks Mausoleum completion and he told me and the late Chuma Azikiwe that if God made him president, he will construct the Bridge and complete the abandoned Mausoleum for our people.
“I was the one who brought to the fore in our South East campaign, that second bridge, Enugu-Onitsha Expressway and Enugu Airport renovation and remodelling, of which the Federal Government gave the Minister of Aviation N10 billion to execute the upgrade, as critical infrastructural projects needed by the zone. Today The tarmac was reconstructed and the runway expanded from one to three kilometres with a modern night lighting system and navigational aids.
“I equally brought Enugu-Port Harcourt road, passing through Umuahia and Aba. Work is almost finished there. But the government before we came, made fake promises about these projects.
“So, President Buhari ought to be praised and showered with encomiums but, they will tell you that people are dying of hunger. Hunger is the world over. If you go to the news, you will see white people protesting against hunger and the high cost of living in Europe and elsewhere.
“There is a war between Russia and Ukraine, which has put the world in an economic dilemma and stress COVID-19 came before then and the world was shut down. There was no movement and no business activities. People were indoors. Those in the informal sector that make their daily living were at home and this government gave palliatives to them.”
Quoting the Igbo adage: “Smearing the reputation of a wealthy man is worse than killing him,” Ngige said Buhari should be left alone and not be blamed for everything that has gone awry under the sun.
He said the government wants and is working very hard to finish strong and needed the support of all Nigerians at the dying minutes of the administration.
He added: “The government wants to leave a good legacy of free fair credible elections, without interference by our administration.
“That is why the President told ministers to face their job.
“I am facing my job.
“That is why you don’t see me with any candidate.
“I am not going to gallivant or run around with any candidate.”
