By Sam Ohuabunwa
“It is clear to me that our leaders do not have real understanding of the sequence of producing an economy that grows.
When I look at their background, I am not completely surprised. When you are sponsored by Nigeria to go to school, you go through another institution under Nigerian sponsorship, you leave that institution and get sponsored by Nigeria to work in one place, you have never been challenged to generate income, or pay a debt, you have never built a kiosk, you have not borrowed money from a bank, not been threatened with liquidation or repossession of your property or assets, you have not kept awake in the night wondering how you are going to pay salaries to your workers, meet obligations or bills that are due, you have lived a life of appropriation with everything supplied to you, you have not gone through a mental opportunity of seeing how to dimension problems and think ahead.”
ON THE IGBO QUESTION:
“The Igbo is not a threat to Nigeria. The Igbo is actually the man who loves Nigeria best. There is no other nationality that loves Nigeria more than the Igbo, given the quantum of their investments in all parts of the country. The Igbo is the only ethnic group that goes to any part of the country, builds businesses, builds houses and develops it. Who else does so? The people building in all parts of the country cannot be the same people seen to be destroying it. That does not make sense. People are crying out of the sense of marginalisation, dehumanization and injustice. All you need to do is to determine what their feelings are and correct them. If there are misconceptions, correct the misconceptions.
Actually Nigeria is waiting for the Igbo to bring the people together and revamp the economy.”
WHY HE WANTS TO BE PRESIDENT:
“If I become president, my title will remain president but my function will be minister of investment because I understand that what can make an economy grow is investment – local or foreign. And to create an investment haven, you must create an enabling environment.
So, if you are minister of investment, you will then focus on what drives the economy. If the economy is stable, there will be policy stability, security of life and property, and you provide bouquet of incentives that will attract incentives into your market because you know that it is investments that create businesses, jobs and projects. The challenge is, how do we make Nigeria an investment haven for the locals and those in the Diaspora? I am going to bring that understanding.”