The number of individuals seeking Nigeria’s highest office will increase by April, being the time Nigeria’s Minister of Labour and Employment. Dr. Chris Ngige says he will throw his heart into the presidential ring.
Ngige, a member of Nigeria’s ruling party, the All Progressive Congress (APC ), stated this in Awka, the Anambra State capital on Sunday during the empowerment of some graduate trainees in the state by his ministry.
Some beneficiaries of the empowerment led by one Nancy Okafor, had raised a motion on the occasion asking Ngige to join the 2023 presidential race without further delay.
Describing the former Anambra State Governor as a man of the people who had shown demonstrable effectiveness in leadership, the beneficiaries, mostly women, unanimously asked him not to delay a minute longer in declaring his presidential ambition .
Responding, Ngige said his Easter terminal date for consultation has not expired and urged the people to give him up till Easter to declare for the race.
” Easter is not too far away. It is two months away. Easter is in April. So, let us exercise some patients. By Easter we shall have something like this( empowerment) again and we shall talk” he said.
According to him, the empowerment was phase II in the series for those who would use the items allotted to them to further their businesses.
“The generators here will help those who have barbing salon to increase the number of barbing salons they have. If you have one, you are starting a second one now.The women here who are also hairdressers, the generators will also help you in starting the second branch of your hair salon; even if you’re going to combine with another person so that you can share the profits.
“This generator will make you an investor and an entrepreneur. That is empowerment. Many people misunderstand empowerment. It is not a dash for you to go and carry the material and sell.If you sell any of these items we will arrest you with the police. You must use it to create further employment. It is a job creation programme.
“For the women again, you can see your grinders, industrial grinders called threshers. They are here for you. You will grind times 10 of whatever you have been doing before with these big ones. You will use them to earn a living.
“We do not want to discourage farmers. There are water pumps there to suck water from streams or rivers to irrigate your farms, mild irrigation especially vegetable producers. Most of the women produce vegetables that they sell. When women make money, they use it to buy food and other important things for their children. But when men make money, sometimes they may spend it at the beer palour but you spend your own at home. So, the water pumping machines are for mild irrigation, small scale agriculture. You use it to suck out water from the water reservoir into your farms.We have other things here but these bags of rice here are my own personal donation,” Ngige stated.
The Minister said the empowerment items were in the neighbourhood of about N45 to N50 million, noting that “before the end of the year, our target is to touch close to 3,000 people from Anambra on blue collar jobs; train them well, give them the skills and empowerment so that they can employ themselves.
2023: Ngige to declare presidential ambition in April
