Ngige To Nigerians: ‘Like It Or Not, Buhari Has Fought Poverty ‘

Nigeria’s Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, has criticised Nigerians for not appreciating the ‘much stride’ made by the Muhammadu Buhari led government and the ministry in tackling poverty and unemployment.

The minister said during the ministerial briefing and updates on the stride made by President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration in the labour and employment sector that a lot has been done to alleviate Nigerians from poverty.

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Africa’s biggest economy has been battling a staggering multi-dimensional poverty rate at 62 per cent or 133 million people.

The unemployment rate has also ballooned to 33.33 per cent according to the last unemployment data released by the National Bureau of Statistics.

But the Labour Minister admitted that the unemployment rate has gone beyond “34 per cent and above from the last statistics” provided.

When the Buhari-led administration took over office in 2015, unemployment was 9.9 per cent before it more than quadrupled.

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According to the minister, the administration has made efforts in battling poverty and labour issues amidst a rising population of over 200 million and two recessions in 2016 and 2020.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Nigeria’s oil revenue dwindled as crude oil prices sold for less than $20. The global supply chains were disrupted due to lockdowns of major sectors which lasted for months.

Ngige said, “During the Covid, we had to introduce the Special Public Works Programme managed by the Minister of State (Festus Keyamo). It was supposed to be 1000 jobs for people of all sizes to do something and get money for that period.

“When 774 is multiplied by 1,000 it gives 774,000 and I think we did about 97 per cent of the target. It is not a mean thing. So, whether we like it or not, this administration has tried to fight poverty. We have within the little resources available to us. Within the means of what we saw, got and earned and it is not a small thing to get Nigeria out of recession.

“Some other people are still battling with their recession. In fact, as a matter of fact, in Europe especially the UK, the battle is still on. Their government is still trying to survive and that is why they have changed three Prime Ministers because things are not adding up.

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“It is only here that people don’t want to appreciate the little or the much we have done. But the government is a continuum, the incoming government luckily is our own. In areas of challenges, we will assist them by giving them the requisite blueprint of what we have not done, because we can’t say we have achieved what we wanted to achieve 100 per cent. We have not but we can give ourselves a pass point and say that we have done our best.”

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