NLC protest over economic hardship was unpatriotic, says Umahi

David Umahi, minister of works, has berated the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) for embarking on a two-day protest over the economic hardship in the country.

The NLC embarked on a nationwide protest on February 28 and 29 over the rising cost of living.

Speaking on Monday while inspecting the Enugu-Port Harcourt road, Umahi said the current administration is working to correct “Nigeria’s misfortunes”.

The minister said the issue of hunger has always been frequent in the country, even during past administrations.

He urged Nigerians to be patient and support the economic reforms of the federal government.

“Mr President is a man that is committed. He came to overturn our misfortunes,” Umahi said.

“When you have a job to do, it doesn’t matter if it takes you one year or two years, the important thing is taking off. Mr President has just taken off and we would soon be cruising.

“Every sector of the economy requires attention and Mr president is managing them well. And we want Nigerians to be patient with him, to support him and let everyone do their bit.

“In every state where we don’t have insecurity, we should be able to go back to our farms. We should be able to assist so we can feed ourselves.

“This hunger that people are talking about, if we increase our activities in the farm… I’m not saying where we have insecurity  people should go to the farm.

“But you have to know that the issue of hunger was not a thing of today. It dates back to the past administrations. It was there before the past administration.

“Incidentally, the people who presided over the beginning of insecurity are the ones criticising us now.

“We had this issue of the herders and farmers crisis where people could no longer go to their farms. And that was even over 10 years ago. And Mr president came to solve all these problems.

“It was very wrong for labour to embark on strike four times within nine months. It doesn’t show patriotism; it doesn’t show that they are in this country and understand the problems we have in this country.”