The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, says President Buhari ought to be praised and not criticized, amid ‘hunger and high cost of living’ the country is experiencing, as most parts of the world are also battling the same crisis at the moment.

Ngige said this when he spoke to newsmen in his hometown of Alor, Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State, on Wednesday, January 4.

“I was the one who brought Buhari to the South East in 2015. As the South East Zonal Coordinator, I told the General that the bridge is critical to our people and the entire South, all the way up to North Central. The General asked if we could do it, and I said, ‘Why not?.’

The same question he asked at the Ziks Mausoleum completion, and he told me that if God made him president, he would construct the bridge and complete the abandoned mausoleum for our people.

I was the one who brought to the fore in our South East campaign the Second Niger Bridge, Enugu-Onitsha Expressway, and Enugu Airport renovation and remodelling, for which the Federal Government gave the Minister of Aviation, N10bn, the authority to execute the upgrade as critical infrastructural projects needed by the zone.

Today, the tarmac was reconstructed and the runway expanded from one to three kilometres with modern night lighting systems and navigational aids and several other projects.

So, President Buhari ought to be praised, but they will tell you that people are dying of hunger. Hunger is a global problem. If you go to the news, you will see white people protesting against hunger and the high cost of living in Europe and elsewhere.”he said

Reacting to the recent letter released by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in which he said the last seven years under the Buhari administration has been hell for Nigerians, Ngige questioned what poverty alleviation measures Obasanjo put in place while he ruled for eight years.

“Disregard those politicians who will come and tell you that the Buhari administration inflicted hardship and poverty on you. One of them wrote a letter the other day, the habitual national letter writer. It is easy to criticize.”he said

National President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke has lashed out at the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, over his alleged authorization of the part-payment of salaries to members of the union, following the suspension of its eight-month strike in October.

Osodeke who spoke in a Channels Television program on Tuesday, November 15, said Ngige lost his right as a conciliator after taking the case to the Industrial Court.

He further described the Minister as an “interloper” who wrote to the Minister of Finance personally, asking them to stop payment of salaries to lecturers who were on strike.

The ASUU President said;

“He (Ngige) has gone to court, which means he has lost his right as a conciliator. Once he has taken this case to the Industrial Court, he has lost that right as a conciliator; he has no say again, but he’s still interloping.

“He has nothing. He’s an interloper. If we’re calling him a conciliator, it has gone beyond him.

“And we have found that it was he who actually wrote to the Minister of Finance personally, not directed, that they should stop our salary. It’s just personal. We are surprised because, having taken the case to court, by all rights, he has hands are tied. He has no business with what we do.”

While onfirming that the part payment was the first salary paid to union members since the strike was called off, Osodeke also expressed confidence that the agitations of the union would be resolved in the interest of students, parents, and the country.

The ASUU President added;

“But to our surprise, the Accountant General Office decided to pay what some people have referred to as half. It’s very sad because professors who are on the same salary scale got varying amounts, N200,000, N180,000, N90,000 and what have you.

“The question we need to ask ourselves is, can a Minister of Labour direct the Minister of Finance on what to do? The answer is no. We are under the Ministry of Education, and we thought that anybody that can give such a directive who monitors what we do through the NUC is the Minister of Education.

“It is the Minister of Education, who we are under, and the Speaker on whose intervention we called off the strike because of the issue we said that, one, they are going to pay us backlog of our salaries because ASUU is different from another union.”

The minister, in a statement by his Media Officer, said only ASUU leaders could tell why members were yet to return to the classroom to the frustration of students and their parents.

Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, Thursday, said the Federal Government had done everything possible to please the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, to end its protracted strike that had paralysed academic activities in universities for about 10 months. 

The minister, in a statement by his Media Officer, said only ASUU leaders could tell why members were yet to return to the classroom to the frustration of students and their parents. 

He dismissed as baseless and dishonest, the statement credited to the University of Jos chapter of ASUU, led by Dr. Maigoro, that the minister was responsible for the prolonged nationwide strike. 

“It is rather ASUU, which has bluntly refused to reciprocate the Federal Government offers by refusing to either teach, conduct research or engage in other academic values for which they are paid, that should be held responsible,” the statement quoted Ngige to have said.

The statement further read, “Strangely, ASUU claims ‘patriotism’ as the basis for this prolonged industrial action, forcing every patriot to raise concern over this weird definition of patriotism by ASUU officials. 

“Living by its words, the Federal Government has fulfilled all the demands over which ASUU went on strike on March 9. 

“The visitation panels to the universities have been approved by the President and will swing into action once the universities reopen. 

“The office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, on the other hand, is also rounding off the gazetting of the panels while the National Universities Commission, NUC, has received the approved list which will be published later next week.

“Also, the revival of the Renegotiation Committee for the 2009 ASSU/FG Agreement demanded by ASUU has been set up by the Ministry of Education with Professor Munzali as Chairman, replacing the ex-chairman, Dr Wale Babalakin(SAN). 

“The new committee is currently meeting. Similarly, the government has also acceded to a hybrid payment platform which is not 100 per cent IPPIS, for the payment of salaries and Earned Academic Allowances/ Earned Allowances. 

“This pending the result and conclusion of the integrity and usability test on the University Transparency and Accountability Solutions, UTAS, by the National Information and Technology Development Agency, NITDA. 

“Besides, the government has also processed for payment the sum of N70 billion, comprising N40 billion for Earned Academic Allowances/Earned Allowances and N30 billion for the revitalisation of the universities. 

“The Accountant-General of the Federation at present awaits the accounts details from the Federal Ministry of Education and the National University Commission for the remittance.

“Of note is that even while ASUU was on strike during the COVID-19 lockdown, the government on the insistence of the Minister of Labour and Employment, and out of compassion, paid them February, March, April, May and June salaries to cushion the effects of the Covid-19 on them and their families. 

“He further made every entreaty to them to come onboard virtual negotiations, with a view for an early call-off of the strike, to enable students to benefit from virtual/online classes, fashionable at the time, and even now, all over the universal academic community, but ASUU bluntly refused,” Ngige added.