- Â Obi, Ohakim differ on solutions
Amby Uneze in Owerri
Former President Goodluck Jonathan weekend took another look at the myriad problems besetting Nigeria and concluded that no single individual or group could have the answered to the problems.
But former governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, and his Imo State counterpart, Chief Ikedi Ohakim, noted that the problems with Nigeria was not that of leadership but the structures that produce leadership in the country.
Speaking during the 5th memorial lecture and the formal presentation of the late Professor Celestine Onwuliri Foundation (PROFOUND) held at Chris VI hotels, Nnarambia, in the Ahiazu Mbaise council area of Imo state, the former president explained that the nation could only wriggle out from her socio-economic and political travails with an efficacious structural composition and comprehensive diagnosis of her problems.
Jonathan who was represented by the former secretary to the government of the federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, insisted that Nigeria requires a leader with an uncommon knowledge, wisdom and determination to implement the recommendation of the National Conference.
He described the infamous Dana plane crash of Sunday 3rd June, 2012 which claimed the life of Prof. Onwuliri and other Nigerians as the saddest and darkest moment of his administration and prayed God to grant their souls eternal rest.
Meanwhile, in a lecture with theme: ‘The problem with Nigeria’, former Anambra state governor, Mr. Peter Obi decried the borrowing spree for consumption by the nation’s leaders which he noted had further pauperized the masses.
Obi disclosed that he never borrowed a dime to govern the state during his two-term administration, noting it was possible because he never saw the reason for that. He condemned the attitude of present crop of leaders who have embarked on a borrowing jamboree without anything to show for it but only to bag chieftaincy titles and merit awards from traditional rulers and organisation.
“Development reflection is what we need and the process of selecting our leaders must change because the current system is poor hence the leadership is poor.
“A leader should live by example and his character should be consistent. We should begin to hold our leaders responsible for failure to meet our worthy expectations. Nigeria as a nation is not poorâ€, he stated.
Invariably, former governor of Imo State, Chief Ikedi Ohakim jocularly disagreed with his colleague, saying that the problem with Nigeria was not that of bad leadership, stressing that otherwise, such leaders as Peter Obi, Paschal Dozie, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim would not have emerged.
Ohakim stressed “our problem is the structure that produces leadership and if we can get the structure right Nigeria will be a better place, otherwise even if you bring in Jesus Christ in the structure we currently operate he will failâ€.
