Former
governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, has said that Nigeria needs to have
wealth creators as leaders and not wealth sharers, if the country is to make
any meaningful progress.
He also dismissed the often
repeated excuse by those in power that they were unable to keep their election
campaign promises because they do not have enough resources to work with.
He made this submissions while
sharing his thoughts at a media chat in Lagos which held during the weekend.
According to Obi: “Countries today
are run like big business. If a man has not created wealth, he cannot manage
wealth. We need wealth creators in government and not wealth sharers. We need
somebody to unite this country. It is critical. I have lived in many different
parts of Nigeria as a businessman. I have invested and served in several
corporations without knowing where my co-investors or partners or those that I
conducted businesses with came from.
“Which country or where in the
world do you have enough resources? What you do when in office is to manage the
resources at your disposal to keep your election promises. If you cannot
deliver what you promised, then you have no business wanting to continue in
office.”
Asked whether he is vying for any
position, Obi said his preoccupation now was to be a small person in a great
Nigeria and not a great person in a failed Nigeria.
He, however, stressed that he is
ready to serve in any capacity to make Nigeria great and that he is doing that
now without being in office.
Obi went further to say that the
discussion now should not be who is contesting or occupying any office but how
Nigeria moved from 35 per cent under-employment and unemployment to 40 per
cent.
“Four million Nigerians lost their
jobs last year. Our joblessness has increased from 14.8 per cent to 18.4 per
cent, and 10 million Nigerians are out of school. These are what should worry
us, not who is coming to continue the next stage of the drama.
“The country needs people with
competence and capacity at all levels of governance. We need people who are
entrepreneurs. Yesterday I analysed all the expenditure in education. Nigeria’s
budget for education is 1.7 billion dollars – 0.4 per cent of our GDP. South
Africa is spending 10 times that amount,” he said.
The former Governor appealed to
Nigerians to stop being docile but to ask questions and to actively engage in
the debate about the present and future of the country so as to make Nigeria a
better place.
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