Ngige: Nigerians would be refugees in Niger, Cameroon without strong leader like Buhari

Chris Ngige, minister of labour, says Nigerians would have become refugees in Cameroon and Niger but for the “strong leadership” of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Ngige spoke on Wednesday after his induction as an honorary fellow of the Institute of Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Corporate Governance (INSLEC) in Abuja.

The minister also said without Buhari’s leadership qualities, the country would be in a crisis like Venezuela.

Venezuela has been grappling with political instability and economic crisis for the past few years. The Latin American country has seen its health system collapse, with food, electricity and fuel shortages progressively worsening — fuelling the rise in refugees, migration and asylum seekers.

According to Ngige, although Nigeria is passing through hard times, it is not the fault of the current government, but a result of poor planning over the years, adding that good leadership is critical to the survival of any human society.

“A good leader must be an implementation man. He should be knowledgeable, because after the vision, he will dissect and crystalise them. He should be a jack of all trades and master of all,” he said in a statement signed by Charles Akpan, deputy director of media in the labour ministry.

“He may not score distinction in all but should be able to score distinction in many. He must also be courageous to implement hard decisions. If you don’t implement courageously, some of the visions will die or will not be implemented for the good of all.

“He must also be compassionate, knowing when to temper justice with mercy, to show the human part of him. He should exude milk of human kindness.

“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 Bihari, 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.”