Buhari fair to Southeast in appointments, projects – Ngige

President Muhammadu Buhari has been fair to the Southeast, especially in the areas of appointments and infrastructure, Labour  and Employment Minister Chris Ngige has said.

Ngige also described Buhari as a friend of the Igbo, absolving him of any blame in the violence in the Southeast.

Rather, he blamed the killings and destructions of properties in the zone  on Igbo elite whom he accused of using propaganda against the Buhari administration.

The minister spoke during an emergency stakeholders’ meeting of the Association of Eze Ndigbo in the  19 Northern states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Abuja at the weekend.

The meeting was summoned by the association  to discuss the killings and destruction of  properties in the Southeast as well as  the safety  of  Igbos  across the nation.

Ngige, in a statement by his media office, wondered why the Igbo are complaining of being sidelined in appointive positions when indeed, they had previously produced persons that were appointed Chief of Army Staff,   Senate Presidents and Inspectors-General of Police.

He added that in the current administration, the Southeast even has more than its due share in the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

The minister recalled that the Buhari government had paid off all the gratuity and pensions of all the police pensioners in the Southeast that were neglected since after the war, which no government did before.

He said the government also assisted the 36 governors with bailout funds to pay the shortfall in salaries in their respective states and went further to give them budget support to help them to execute budgetary projects and programmes..

According to him,  Southeast governors  received the supports even though at the time, the zone was in firm control of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

– The Nation