The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, on Monday, said pressure was on him to run for the Anambra Central Senatorial Zone saying that his decision would be revealed in a fortnight.

News Express recalls that Ngige contested the 2014 senatorial election against Senator Victor Umeh of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and the then Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Uche Ekwunife, who he lost to before he was appointed Minister for Labour and Employment by the President Muhammad Buhari led administration.

Addressing journalists in Obosi, Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State, the Minister said the pressure which is coming from prominent South Easterners and Anambra people at large is making him consider getting into the line of contest.

He said: “People are pressurizing me to run but I have made it clear to my constituents, people of Anambra state and some prominent people from the South-East, who are in agreement that we need to go and better the milieu of the Ninth Senate.

“Many people feel that the present eight Senate have been engulfed in a battle of supremacy with the executive and they feel that some of us who have tested the executive and Senate before should go back.

“I am considering it, I am consulting and the result of my consultations would be made known in the next fortnight, by then I will conclude.”

Ngige dismissed the notion that APC government presence is not being felt in Anambra State as deliberate falsehood and campaign of calumny from the opposition.

He claimed that the federal government has been generous to the people of the South-East, saying: “I am from the South-East and as you can see, the President promised us infrastructural development and the South-East was included.

“When you talk about infrastructure you are talking about transport, road infrastructure, air infrastructure, sea, health and power infrastructures. In all these, the South-East have not been left out.

“If you drive from Enugu now to Awka, you will see the work that is going on the Enugu-Onitsha expressway by RCC. They have gotten to Oji River and are coming down fast to Awka. The asphalting and the thickness of the road they have so done is worth applauding.

“RCC company built these roads in Anambra State when I was governor of the state and they have spanned 14 years.”

While saying that the construction of the second Niger Bridge had reached 48 per cent, Ngige observed that Buhari administration had done well in all parts of the country

“The Second Niger Bridge has been scaled up from the former N100b to N216b. Work is going on there as I speak to you now, they have got up to 48 per cent of the job done.

“The Aba-Port Harcourt road has been awarded, is one of the deadliest roads now but it has been awarded, Owerri – Aba, Owerri – Port Harcourt.

“When we came, it was about two per cent but they have reached 48 per cent now. There is also the Enugu – Okigwe, Okigwe – Umuahia, Umuahia – Aba road construction, handled by four Chinese companies who are working day and night to get the job done on time,” Ngige noted.

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