Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige
Wednesday said without the President, Muhammadu Buhari,
the experience of Nigeria would have been like that of Venezuela.
Ngige said Nigeria’s passing through hard times, not because
of the current government, but as a result of poor planning over the years.
He also many Nigerians would have spilled into Cameroon,
Niger, and other places as refugees without Buhari in power.
The minister spoke in his office after his induction as a
Distinguished Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Leadership, Entrepreneurship
and Corporate Governance, a leading global professional body of both present
and aspiring leaders, entrepreneurs, and people in corporate governance.
These were contained in a statement on Wednesday by Deputy
Director , Press and Public Relations of the ministry, Charles Akpan.
The statement read, “I know that our country is passing
through a very rough time now because we have not planned well. It is not this
administration. We know we were all dependent on oil. So, when oil prices came
crashing and when security issues arose, disrupting production, we were caught
napping. Because of that, we went into recession. Later on, COVID-19 forced us
to go into a second recession. We are not yet out of the woods.
“We thank God. I am part of this government. I know that if
we don’t have the kind of leader that we have who is strong like President
Muhammadu Bihari, the experience of Nigeria would have been like that of
Venezuela.
“The citizens of Nigeria would have spilled into the
Cameroons, Niger and other places as refugees. We were looking forward to it.
But he forced us all to go into agriculture. We made agriculture the first
signature programme of the administration and provided food security so that we
can eat whatever we grow here.”
Ngige noted that Nigeria has stopped the importation of
rice, sorghum, millet, tomatoes, and other things hitherto imported, all of
which were dependent on the scarce foreign exchange.
According to him, the country’s GDP grew by 5.01 percent in
fourth quarter 2021, the highest in the last seven years, marking three
consecutive quarters of growth, following the negative growths recorded in the
second and third quarters of 2020.
He said, “Services provided the lead, followed by
agriculture, even though it had a deep and then, followed by Information and
Communication Technology (ICT).
“So, we have to be grateful to the Government and our
leader, President Muhammadu Buhari, for standing firm that we will import food
anymore here. Even if he didn’t stand firm, we didn’t have the money anymore to
start importing potatoes, tooth pick, chocolate and others.”
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