The Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, on Friday, thrilled the students and staff of the University of Abuja with his facts and figures of where Nigeria is and where it should be if he is voted in as President on February 25, 2023.
Obi, who was a special guest at a Town Hall engagement organized by the University’s Leadership Center, said that the problems of Nigeria, whether on economy, education, health, politics etc revolve around political leadership that has eluded the country over the years.
The LP residential flag bearer, who spoke for over two hours while standing, identified leadership failures of the past years and refusing to do the right thing at the right time, as being responsible for the barrage of woes of Nigeria.
He told the cheering audience that the reason his manifesto is centered on turning the country from consumption to production is to stop Nigeria from recycling poverty.
“The only thing this country is manufacturing is poverty. Datti and I are coming to change all that because no country grows by consumption, without production.”
He explained that poverty is increasing in Nigeria because the country is not investing enough in education and health, which is what makes the difference between a rich and a poor country.
Assuring the students that all that will stop under his watch, Obi noted that “life expectancy globally should be about 72 years, but it is 55 years in Nigeria because of the high level of poverty in Nigeria; our country that is so blessed.
“This country should not be poor given its abundant natural and human resources.”
The presidential hopeful remarked that he and his running mate are coming to halt the drift, and position the country as a giant of Africa that we all profess.
The former governor of Anambra State said that securing the country remains their number one priority, adding that nothing, no matter how laudable, can be achieved without a secure environment. He further said that his Presidency will dialogue with agitators who are amenable, and deal with those who may be recalcitrant and uncooperative as there can only be one government at a time in a country.
He also responded to questions from the audience ranging from power, corruption and petrol subsidy.
On the allegation by one of the candidates that fuel scarcity and redesigning of the Naira are deliberately created to sabotage the forthcoming election, Obi said that his campaigns is on issues – not on personalities as other candidates do. He nonetheless said that as insiders, they may know what others do not know.
On the removal of petrol subsidy, Obi said given the opportunity, he will remove subsidy the first day in office alleging that they have turned it into a huge racket of corruption, which he and Datti will stop.
Obi told the jubilant audience 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 turn-by-turn “because in truth, it is the turn of the teeming Nigerian youths who are made to waste away.”
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 those aspiring to govern us must be scrutinized, made to answer questions and wondered why Nigeria is where they are if not for poor political leadership, which is everything.