The Federal Government has tasked Nigerian workers and citizens on improve productivity, saying such push would improve living standards of the people across the country.
The Minister of Works, Sen. David Umahi, gave the charge while speaking with newsmen on Sunday in Uburu, Ohaozara Local Government Area of Ebonyi.
Umahi noted that hunger could go, “if we improve production by engaging in agriculture and step up daily working hours”.
According to him, there is no way we can improve our standard of living, if we do not improve on our productivity and hours we put in.
“We should be able to tell ourselves the basic truth,” Umahi said.
On the proposed nationwide protest, Umahi said that such move was not good for the country.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration has done good for the people. Let me tell you, Nigerians planning to protest against this administration are not patriotic.
“There is need to change the level and hour of productivity to improve the standard of living.
“By the way, what are the people protesting about? Without the coming of President Tinubu, we would have had a failed country.
“The job is easy when you are not the one doing it. When people say there is hunger, tell us the solution to the hunger. It is not just to be talking.
“So we must engage ourselves into something extra, especially into farming.
“Even when I was in the private sector, I pushed for more hours of productivity.
“Everybody must have work to do. We should not as a people, be buying pepper. We should not be buying tomatoes. We should be able to get bags and fill them with manure and plant these things at the front of our houses.
“Improving standard of living is the responsibility of everybody. No matter how much the federal government injects into the system and palliatives, we must change our working hours.
“We must change our level of productivity, because if we have all the working tools and you do not deploy it, there will be no result.
“I support what the President is doing. The CNG buses, a lot of palliatives, trader monies, monies to the vulnerable families, agricultural inputs, giving out rice and fertilizers to our farmers, to indigent women and men.
“These are very important. But we must be committed and faithful to it. We must change the narratives. Government cannot do everything for us.
“We have to support Mr President to change the course of things. This is my position. When people say they want to protest, they are just being mischievous,” Umahi added. (NAN)