The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, has blamed the nation’s economic woes on the major opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, which 16 years reign he said, pauperized Nigerians.
Ngige said it was the alleged massive plundering of the nation’s commonwealth by the PDP that forced President Muhammadu Buhari to resort to seeking foreign loans.
He said “This is because the Peoples Democratic Party, for 16 years, looted the nation’s treasury and pauperized Nigerians. The PDP during the oil windfall did not bother to save any kobo for this country. All (the money) they got, they squandered. That is why Nigerians are pauperized this way today.
“Whatever money we borrow today is not going to be used for recurrent expenditure. It is going to be invested in railroads, power, roads, providing infrastructure for agriculture and solid minerals. Won’t you want to see the construction of the Onitsha-Enugu Expressway?”
The minister made the assertion weekend during a programme organised by the National Directorate of Employment in Amawbia, Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra State.
While justifying the Buhari administration’s decision to seek foreign loans to finance part of the 2016 budget deficit, Mr. Ngige said the “only option under the circumstance is to look for loans to give Nigerians good governance because Section 14 of our Constitution says the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government”.
He also promised that the All Progressives Congress-led federal government through agencies like the NDE, will make jobs available in the country.
“In the next two months, the second phase of this exercise would have been carried out and I want to assure you that over 2, 800 new businesses would have been generated across the country through the ‘Resettlement Scheme’ of the NDE”, Ngige said.
Earlier, the Acting Director General of NDE, Kunle Obayan, said apart from the 30 persons that were empowered at the programme, 220 other persons previously trained in the state but not empowered were given “lifelines from the Federal Government through the NDE, under the Artisans Resettlement and Mentoring Scheme”.
