Your Protest Over Economic Hardship Was Unpatriotic – Umahi Fires NLC

The Minister of Works, David Umahi, has slammed the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) for embarking on a two-day nationwide protest over the economic hardship in the country.

Speaking on Monday while inspecting the Enugu-Port Harcourt road, Umahi said it was wrong for the NLC to embark on strike four times within nine months.

The former Governor of Ebonyi State said the action of the labour union doesn’t show patriotism, and that they understand the problems facing the country.

Umahi stated that the Bola Tinubu administration is working hard to address the challenges bedevilling the nation.

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

“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.”

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

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

He added: “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.”