Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, said Igbos have been brainwashed by the Nnamdi Kanu-led Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, in the South-Eastern region of the country.
Ngige stated this while speaking at a stakeholders’ meeting of the Association of Eze Ndigbo in the 19 Northern States and Abuja yesterday.
The minister said IPOB had brainwashed people of the Southeast into believing that Biafra would bring an end to unemployment and economic challenges in the region.
The former Anambra state governor, however, cautioned against such a notion, stressing that the Nigerian government was working towards resolving those challenges.
Ngige said: “People have been brainwashed and the separatists humped on that foundation to now shout from the rooftops that we will give you Biafra and when we give you Biafra, all these things will disappear.
“There is no country that does not have its own problems. We have economic problems here, which is why we have unemployment and of course, we have a youth bulge in our population.
“About 60 per cent of them are youths and a lot of them are unemployed.
“So, the government is devising ways to tackle that. It is a work in progress.”
The Kanu-led IPOB has been at the forefront of the agitation for Biafra Republic.
The separatist group has anchored its agitation on the alleged marginalization of the region by the current Nigerian government.