Emameh Gabriel in Abuja
The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, has said that for Nigeria to make progress, Nigerians should stop recycling poverty.
He disclosed yesterday while interfacing with students and staff of the University of Abuja, where he dished out facts and figures of where Nigeria was and where the country should be if he is voted in as President on February 25, 2023.
Obi, who was a special guest in a town hall engagement organised by the University’s Leadership Center, said that all the problems of the country, whether on economy, education, health, politics and others revolved around political leadership that has failed the country over the years.
The LP presidential flag bearer, who spoke for over two hours, hinted that leadership failures over the years and refusing to do the right things at the right time is responsible for the barrage of woes in the system.
He told the cheering students that the reason his manifesto is centred on turning the country from consumption to production was to stop the country from recycling poverty.
He said: “The only thing this country is manufacturing is poverty. And Datti and I are coming to change all that because no country grows my consumption, without production.”
“Poverty is increasing in Nigeria because we are not investing enough in education and health which is what makes the difference between a rich and a poor country.”
Assuring the students of his determination to turn around the fortune of the country, Obi noted that “life expectancy globally should be about 72 years but it’s 55 years in Nigeria because of the growing level of poverty in Nigeria, our country that is so blessed.
“This country should not be poor given its abundance of natural and human resources.”
The former Anambra State governor said that securing the country remains his number one priority because “nothing, no matter how laudable, can be achieved without a secured environment,” pointing out that his presidency will negotiate with agitators who are amenable and deal with those who may be recalcitrant and uncooperative because there can only be one government at a time in a country.
He also spoke on a number of issues arising from the questions from the staff and students at the well attended town hall meeting, ranging from power, corruption and subsidy removal.
On the allegation made by one of the candidates that fuel scarcity and redesigning of the naira are deliberately created to sabotage the forthcoming election, Obi said that he runs his campaigns on issues and does not delve in “candidates’ position but noted that since they are inside they may know what others do not know.”
On removal of subsidy, he said that if given the opportunity, he will remove subsidy the first day in office because they have turned it into a huge racket of corruption which he and Datti will stop.
Obi told the jubilant students that the next election is about them and they must seize the opportunity to take back their country by insisting that character, competence and antecedents guide their decision, not religion, tribe and region or “my turn because in truth it’s the turn of the teeming Nigerian youths who are wasting.”
Earlier in the well attended town hall meeting, the Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah, explained the motive of the gathering saying that intellectual engagement is the basis of political leadership.
The Vice Chancellor said that those aspiring to govern us must be scrutinised, made to answer questions and wondered why Nigeria is where it is if not for poor political leadership which is everything.
