The Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi has alleged that protests are generally unproductive for the Igbo community, emphasizing their cultural inclination towards industriousness and constant work. He described the Igbos as hardworking individuals who prioritize their livelihoods over distractions such as protests.
According to him, engaging in protests, particularly without a clear understanding of the issues at stake, is not beneficial. He questioned the rationale behind current planned protest while stating that without President Tinubu’s leadership, the nation could have been in a much worse state. He further criticized the tendency to complain without offering solutions, especially regarding issues like hunger.
Using a personal example, he highlighted the inadequacy of recent wage adjustments, pointing out that even an increased salary of N70,000 is insufficient for basic life expenses such as marriage or raising children. He argued that merely discussing problems without practical solutions is unproductive, stressing that people need to engage in additional income-generating activities beyond their primary jobs.
He said in an interview with The Sun, “Protest has never favoured an Igbo man, an Igbo man needs to be busy 24 hours. Igbo man is a hustler and doesn’t need any distraction, he is a workaholic who hustles to earn a living. So, you don’t go get involved in anything you know nothing about. By the way, what are people protesting about? What are they protesting about? Without the coming of President Tinubu, we would have had a failed country. Talk is cheap and job is very easy when you are not the one doing it. When people say there is hunger, tell us the solution to the hunger.
It’s not just to be talking and talking and talking and talking. I was going out and I was talking to my private workers and I said, you are doing this and you are now paid N50,000 but now, government said N70,000. I said this N70,000, you can’t marry a wife with it. You can’t train your child with it. So, you needed to have something extra you are doing and this place you are working, you are not doing more than three hours work in a day, which means that the level of our productivity in the country is very low. And there is no way we can improve our standard of living if we don’t improve on our productivity, hours we put in.”….Seë_Morë