The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, has vowed to put a stop against sharing of government money if elected president in the forthcoming February 25 election.
Obi, who stated this in Abuja on Friday while speaking at a Leadership Town Hall, said he will turn Nigeria into a productive nation where jobs will be created for the labour market.
The Town Hall was organised by the Abuja Leadership Centre of the University of Abuja (UniAbuja).
With the insecurity and poverty ravaging the country, Obi said Nigeria can best be described as a failed state, saying that the current leaders have lost total control of it.
He attributed the challenges facing Nigeria to leadership failure over the years, that has refused to do the right thing, noting that a new Nigeria was possible as his administration will turn things around in a short time.
The Labour Party presidential candidate also lamented that despite the enormous challenges, the country was not producing anything apart poverty.
“A new Nigeria is possible. What are we going to do to bring that new Nigeria, I don’t want to bore you with crisis because I can talk about the crisis in Nigeria for the whole of today but starting, what is the difference between poor and rich nation? It is exemplified in human development index. Simply, health, education and per capital. If you fix these three items, people of your country will be out of difficulty.
“Let nobody make you believe that the enemy or the criminal is more formidable, it is not. What is lacking is leadership. What is still lacking is to have a governance security structure that addresses the problems. Datti and I will deal with that issue.
“We are not going to give any excuse. We want you to hold us responsible. There must be a government. One person must govern, we can’t share it with any person. Simultaneously as we are doing this, we must start taking people out of poverty. The only thing to do this is to remove Nigeria from consumption to production. Nigeria is not producing anything.
“It is a country that wasted every body’s time on sharing and we want to remove the sharing formula to production formula. We will tackle this country’s production based on our endowment.
“Out of the 10 poorest States in Nigeria, nine are in the North and those nine are States that can feed Nigeria, states that can make Nigeria a great nation because Nigeria can earn far more from agriculture than oil. God has blessed us with land but we can’t even feed ourselves. India is 1.4 billion people living on 3.2 million square kilometers of land but can feed themselves, Nigeria lives on one third of Indian land but we cannot feed ourselves. It is unacceptable, it cannot continue,” he said.
He stated that to make things work in Nigeria again, his administration will first ensure safety and unity of the people.
“The only thing this country is manufacturing is poverty. What do we want to do? We will secure and unite the country, without securing the country, you can’t do anything. People must be secured. What we need is to have a governance structure that addresses these problem. Datti and I have said we will deal with that issue.
“Nigeria is not producing anything. It is a country that has been wasting everybody’s time on sharing and we want to remove the sharing formula. Sharing of money will stop under my administration.”
The former Anambra State governor noted that the election must not be based on ethnicity or religion or by ‘my turn’ syndrome.
“It is nobody’s turn. I’m an Igbo but I’m more proud being a Nigerian. I’m contesting because I’m the most qualified to solve this country’s problem.
“We want to build a better future for you. It is not about us. They talk about structure but they don’t have a structure, it is a structure of stealing,” he added.
On the issue of fuel subsidy, he said his administration will remove it, describing it as an organised crime in Nigeria.
For his part, the Vice-Chancellor of University of Abuja, Prof. Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah, said the institution was determined from now on and forever to keep asking questions from leaders on their agenda to rule.
“Our nation is endowed so much. Why is Nigeria still where we are? What have we done wrong? Is it the ideas that we have not put together? Even before independence, as Pan Africanist, as Nigerians, so many constructional creation, have we implemented them? What is the problem?
“How can India and Brazil, even Malaysia, Singapore they were behind us, how come they have overtaken us and we are still crawling as a nation.
“We are a nation of so many years. What are the politicians going to do differently. We have heard a lot of stories before but they have never done anything differently,” Prof. Na’Allah queried.
