A good friend of mine and a brother to Ngige,
Nze PE Egwuonwu had, after reading my
treatise last week, asked me: Ichie, what has Ngige done to you?. And I replied
him with the words of our elders( by the way, he is one of the elders) that
there is no need pinching a parcel that would soon be opened up. And so, for him
and others who were wandering what my ‘grouse’ with Ngige is, here we are.
In April 2019, Dr Ngige, a medical doctor and our honourable Minister
of Labour and Productivity told the
whole world through Channels TV, our glocal
broadcast octopus, that he was not
worried about medical brain-drain because we had more than enough of them. All
efforts made by his hosts to make him call himself to order failed as he went
on to reemphasize his assertion. ‘Who said we don’t have enough doctors? We
have more than enough; you can quote me; there is nothing wrong with their
travelling out’! In this Nigeria, where some people still travel tens of
kilometers to see a doctor? Of course he came under raw fire from his
colleagues, sundry organizations and
public commentators.
 |
| Asuquo
‘supports’ Ngige! |
Is his assertion true? Obviously not. Should he
know the true situation? Sure! Even if it were true should he have said so
given his status? I doubt. For a medical
doctor and Minister of Labour to say so in a country where 40,000 doctors were
attending to 200m patients left a sour taste in the mouth. I made a little
comment about it then and decided to face other matters and let Ngige be.
A few days later, our dear minister of labour,
who should be telling us what his ministry has done under the change agenda to
improve the worrisome unemployment situation,
rather told us: ‘you ain’t seen nothing yet’ !
He told
his bewildered compatriots that the unemployment rate should hit 33.5 % by
2020. As if that was not enough, he
reminded us that we were the poverty capital of the word, a trophy which India
gladly handed over to us and that Nigeria suffering from high level of crimes
and criminality! If he wanted to play
the prophet, he failed because we are already in 2020. But why should an
official of a ‘next level government’
tell those expecting the amoebic dividends of democracy from him and his
colleagues, that more suffering awaited them?
He then went on to ask no one in particular, questions, which he was (and
is)in the best position to answer: ‘what is the government not doing right;
what changes are needed in policies and strategies; why do we employ
expatriates for jobs Nigerians can do or why can’t Nigerians do those
jobs…’ As Omawumi would say: ‘if
you ask me, na who I go ask’ ? Luckily, his doomful prediction has mercifully not
materialized but even if it would have,
was he the best person to make suce prophecy? Obviously not. Even Lai Mohammed
would not have loved to make that kind of pronouncement. Of course if he were
serious about those questions, he should have contracted Muo & Muo Consulting Unlimited for fail-proof
answers. I found it odd that a minister
was demarketing himself, his ministry and his government, but I kept my peace.
The last straw that broke the camels back was
his advice to our teaming unemployed youths: ‘don’t rely on government jobs’.
In other words, there is not much my ministry and this government can do for
you! He based his argument on the fact that ‘the
richest youth of the world, are not employees of government but smart
entrepreneurs…’ Sure, everybody knows that governments are not
meant to be the sole sources of employment. Everybody knows that the Nigerian
government will not go out of its way to create jobs for the ordinary folks
but will surely do so for those who are
connected to those who are connected to the source. But should a minister tell
his compatriots who are looking up to his ministry for succour to look
elsewhere? Surely entrepreneurship is thriving and is a better source of wealth
but what has Ngige and the government which he serves done to make the
environment favourable for entrepreneurial exploits? In my recent outing on
entrepreneurship(Ik Muo, {2018} Entrepreneurship
in a changing environment, lessons from experience. Enugu, Potter
Creations), only 10% of the sample had anything good to say of the government;
the rest recounted the frustrating impact of government activities and
inactivities. Is that the environment in which entrepreneurship will thrive?
Dr Ngige is a medical
doctor and rose to the directorate level
in federal civil service before jumping into the murky (but lucrative) waters
of Nigerian politics. As a professional, a bureaucrat and a politician, he is
well placed to situate things in proper perspectives; to make statements that
give people hope and to optimize the science and art of diplomacy. After all,
diplomacy is the art of telling people to go to hell in such a way that they
eagerly prepare for the trip! It is a
source of worry when a minister creates hopelessness for his constituents by
saying right or wrong this at the wrong
time in the wrong way. And that is why I am publicly telling him; ‘mind your
sef’ You are all my witnesses.
And by the way for those who ‘labourers’ ( labour union
executives) who regularly contend with Dr Ngige
( and it appears that he enjoys it)
I wish to remind
them of the words of our elders which
has been in existence long before Ngige was born: that whenever a cock perches on a rope(ngige),
neither the cock nor
the rope will ever be at peace; because
both the cock and the rope
Other
Matters: Micah,7:6-7; Household Wickedness
We are still discussing the frightening level
of household wickedness in which parents
children and spouses are engaged in
indescribable wickedness against each other. Years ago, Prophet Micah
foresaw the era in which ‘ son
dishonours father; daughter rises against mother and daughter in law against
mother in law. A mans enemy are members of his household’ Micah,7:6-7). Our
Lord Jesus Christ later reiterated
that prophesy ( Matthew, 10.36). May be, that time has come! However, it did
not start today. After all, in the early days of creation, Cain murdered Abel,
who did not offend him in any way! Athalia
murdered all her grandchildren in a desperate quest to take over the kingdom after the death of her own
son. Joseph narrowly escaped death in
the hands of his brothers who sold him into slavery ( Genesis,37)while Absalom
led an insurrection against his father.
The burial of 4 kids aged 2-9,( 1/3/2020)
murdered by their father, due to the mothers alleged infidelity in South Africa
is still fresh in our minds. So is the wicked pain inflicted on a small boy by
his mother as well as the doctor butchered by his wife in Owerri. These
evidence the truth that this household wickedness has been take a notch far
above what we ever imagined; it has become a worrisome reality.
So, what has gone wrong? Is it the end times as
some of our ‘casting and binding’
brethren have been reminding us? The family is the nucleus and
foundation of the society and if the foundation be destroyed, what is the fate
and future of the society( Psalm 11:3)? One Bisi Adewale recently asked all right the questions on
social media and I join him/her in asking ‘ What has come over us; where
did we get it wrong; were we like this before What is happening’ ? Indeed, WHAT
IS HAPPENING?
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