El-Rufai, Journalist In Twitter War Over Employment Claims
Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, and an Executive Director with the Authority newspapers, Chuks Akunna, have engaged in war of words on social media over claim by the former’s administration on the creation of 50, 000 new jobs for Kaduna residents.
El Rufai had announced on Monday that his administration signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a Danish company, Arla, to boost dairy production in Kaduna State.
Advertisement
The Kaduna State Government and the company estimates that the project will add 50,000 new jobs with an investment portfolio of €100 million to the state’s economy when it becomes operational.
“Arla intends to invest a hundred million Euros in this project, this is a major investment that will create tens and thousands of direct Job opportunities, but more than that, its success will provide a template that can be replicated across our other 15 grazing reserves and indeed across Nigeria, because the herdsmen-farmer problem is not just an economic or political problem but has today become a national security problem,” Elrufai had said after the MoU signing.
But Akunna, in a tweet, dismissed the claim that the partnership between the Kaduna State Government and Arla can lead to creation of 50, 000 new jobs.
“How can he (El-Rufai) claim 50k jobs when the coy his partnering with (Arla Foods, the biggest dairy coy in Scandinavia) has less than 20k workers? Liar!” he said, while daring the governor to come after him for criticizing his government.
Advertisement
Reacting, however, El-Rufai told Akunna that calling him a “liar” would amount to crime, but the governor dared the journalist to “Just post some fake pictures, videos or words that amount to injurious falsehood leading to disruption of our State’s peaceful coexistence and you will have our undivided attention. Go on, try!”
But Akunna did not capitulate to El-Rufai’s threat as he asked he further criticized the governor regarding a statement he allegedly made in the past on why government “shouldn’t be in business”.
“Please go ask Labour Minister Chris Ngige who Chuks Akunna is. Isn’t a contradiction that 15 years after heading BPE, & telling us govt shouldn’t be in biz, you’re inviting a private firm to partner KDSG? By the way, nothing can be worse than the Dadiyata treatment.”
Advertisement
The journalist further accused Kaduna governor of auctioning one of Nigeria’s biggest paper coy, Paper Mill, Jebba, when he served as the Director General of Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) between 1999 and 2003.
“Raised in Bacita, a town that housed d biggest sugar coy in Nigeria. 18km away was Nig. Paper Mill, Jebba, the largest paper mill in Africa. Both coys combined couldn’t create 50k jobs. As BPE boss, @elrufai auctioned them. Now, he says his fura da nono coy ‘ll create 50k jobs. How?” Akunna queried.
Paper Mill, said to be the largest paper mill in West Africa, had shut down due mismanagement and lack of investment, and left thousands of employed Nigerians jobless.
The company was said to have been eventually taken over by an Indian businessman who revived it and is managing its operations.
