Minister of Labour and Employment Chris Ngige has accused Anambra State Governor Willie Obiano of taking the state 20 years backward.
The minister said the stagnation, depreciation and retrogression are making the people wish the hand of the clock could be turned back.
Ngige, in a statement from his media office, accused Obiano of wasting the opportunity given to him after inheriting a ‘virile and robust state resources’.
He challenged Governor Obiano to state his achievements, beyond bequeathing a mounting regime of debts to generations unborn.
Ngige described his 34 months renaissance as governor of Anambra as unrivalled, and dismissed a parody performance rating of him by Obiano as hogwash.
The statement reads: “This governor has taken Anambra State 20 years backwards, making the people wish the hand of the clock could be turned back. The stagnation, depreciation and retrogression are mindboggling. What a wasted opportunity for a governor who inherited virile and robust state resources.
“The eventful era of Ngige has remained a parameter for judging successive administrations in Anambra, going by his unprecedented achievements and quantum of projects executed by his administration in just three years.
“It is important to remind James Eze, who authored the diatribe, that Ngige took over power at a critical stage in the history of Anambra, with years of salary and pension arrears, dilapidated infrastructure and mounting debts owed banks and international lenders, yet, Ngige did not sell off state assets to take off.
“Ngige neither received a formal handover note, nor inherited N75 billion in local and foreign currencies from his predecessor. He inherited Anambra in a state of anomie. Yet, he not only liberated the state, but left it at an enviable height…”