Dr. Peter Obi, vying for president on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, says he would move Nigeria from a consumptive to a productive nation if given the chance.
Obi made the promise in Enugu when he consulted with state Executive members of the party, bemoaning the dwindling economic fortunes of Nigeria, which he blamed on poor civilian leadership that has been installed in the country from 1999 to the present.
Briefing journalists after the meeting held at the party’s Secretariat, the former governor of Anambra state lamented the country’s debt burden.
He said if nothing urgent is done to change the status quo, the current leaders would plunge the nation into more debt.
Obi said, “We even borrow to service debts. What we are sharing is finished. We need wealth creators. We need to move Nigeria from a consumptive nation into a productive nation.
“The problem of Nigeria is leadership. The cumulative effect of the failure of our leadership in the past decades is what we are suffering from now. So we just have to do things right. Countries don’t fail overnight.”
According to him, the best way to save Nigeria from its present economic woes is to boost the production sector by ensuring that all borrowings are channeled into the productive sector.
We also nned to reduce the cost of running governance, create job opportunities for the teeming population of Nigerian youths and enhance food security for every Nigerian, he said.
On Insecurity, Obi said, if given the opportunity to lead, he would curtail it to pave way for the production sector to thrive, noting that food security would be one of the top priorities of his administration.
“Natural security is when human beings know where their next meal will come from. 98 million Nigerians are living below the poverty line. The poverty rate in Nigeria with a population of about 200 million people is far higher than that of China and India with populations of over 2.8 billion people combined.
“Unemployment rate in Nigeria is the highest. More than fifty percent of our young people who are of production age are doing nothing. We want to move Nigeria from consumption to production. Everybody is suffering the pains.”
CHECKPOINTCHARLEY 