Minister Of Labour,Chris Ngige Booed In Enugu For Doing This For Buhari

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, was booed while trying to defend President Muhammadu Buhari’s appointments at a town hall meeting organised by the Federal Government for the South-East in Enugu on Monday.

Shouts of ‘No! No!’ rented the hall as he attempted to justify the appointments, which are generally believed to be lopsided and skewed in favour of the North.
The South-East is seen as the most marginalised zone in the appointments made so far by Buhari.
Ngige was responding to criticism of Buhari’s failure to appoint an Igbo as one of the service chiefs at the interactive town hall meeting.
Some South-East stakeholders at the event included leaders of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, traditional rulers, members of the National Assembly, and other current and former political office-holders.

The minister was responding to calls for new states in the zone, as well as the demand for the restructuring of the country into regions.
Stressing that the members of the National Assembly were the only true representatives of the people, Ngige noted that those who participated in the constitutional conference were not elected.
“The only people elected today to represent the people are those in the National Assembly.

“If you want to amend the constitution or to create more states you must pass through the National Assembly,” he said.

The minister, a former governor of Anambra State, and an erstwhile member of the Senate, said the Igbo must strategise on how best to survive and thrive in Nigeria.
Reacting to what he described as ‘the question of restructuring and the South-East,’ he advised that the Igbo should avoid wallowing in self pity.
“We (Igbo) have to put on our thinking cap; we don’t have to cry and wallow in self pity,” he said, noting that Nigeria is a federation where all the federating units must relate with one another.
“If tomorrow President Muhammadu Buhari says ‘I want to do a constitutional conference’, I can assure you that whatever you lobby and get in the conference will be implemented to the letter,” Ngige added.