The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, says Nigeria is currently broke.
Ngige mentioned this while speaking at the 2022 World Day Against Child Labour.
Federal Government does not have money to prosecute capital projects next year, a development that might worsen unemployment and poverty, according to him.
He said, “I can tell you that Nigeria is broke. There is no money to fund capital projects next year. As you can see, the dollar that has been hovering around N500 and N600 is now above N700. The truth is that there is no money anywhere. The money that the FAAC (Federation Account Allocation Committee) has been sharing is money from taxes, customs, and other revenue-generating agencies.?
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The National Nigerian Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) no longer remits money to FAAC. So, the situation calls for patriotism from all Nigerians. The lack of money to fund capital projects would have implications on the capacity to create jobs. If jobs are not created, poverty will increase in the country.”
Though the authorities did not directly point the accusing finger at Ngige, they said he, alongside other members of President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet, drove Nigeria to its current dangerous state’.
Reacting to his comment an economist, Abel Eze, said, “Ngige has done well to have told us the truth we already know. But he was economical with how we got into this mess. He was part of the cabinet that squandered our commonwealth when we should be saving”.
A businessman, James Idoko, said, “Gov Samuel Ortom has been crying over Nigeria’s dwindling state. But we kept quiet.
“Ngige has confirmed it. But he didn’t tell us if he objected to Nigeria using over N32bn to renovate the National Assembly complex. Ngige didn’t tell us how members of Buhari’s cabinet who are frustrating our university education could easily buy APC presidential primary forms from their back pockets at N100m. Nigeria is broke, but broken into the pockets of the likes of Ngige.”
, “We are in trouble already. Ngige will later this year tell Nigerians that there are no funds to conduct general elections next year,” security expert, Uche Mefor said.
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