The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, on Wednesday, praised President Muhammadu Buhari for leading the country through the COVID-19 pandemic and recession, IgbereTV reports.
In a statement issued by Deputy Director, Press and Public Relations of the ministry, Charles Akpan, the minister attributed the challenges faced by the country to a lack of planning by previous administrations.
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 Buhari, the experience of Nigeria would have been like that of Venezuela.
“The citizens of Nigeria would have spilled into Cameroon, 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.
“So, we have to be grateful to the government and our leader, President Muhammadu Buhari, for standing firm that we will not 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.
