A former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi has said that Nigeria has been going through problems since the independence of the country in 1960 because of failure of leadership.
Obi who is a presidential aspirant for the 2023 general election, urged Nigerians to forgo the practice of money politics in the country, arguing that only competent leadership can unite the nation.
Obi stated this on Thursday, in his lecture titled, ‘National development: Role of the Nigeria youths’, during the formal inauguration of the National Executive Council of Nigeria Ethnic Nationalities Youth Leaders Council which was held in Abuja.
The business mogul said that countries like Morocco and Bangladesh were able to conquer their problems because of the direction and examples provided by their leaders.
He said, “Don’t think you are going to get anything out of incompetent leadership no matter how it benefits you personally. It will worsen the entire country and eventually worsen you.
“Let Nigeria’s next leadership from the local governments to the state and federal levels be people who have the capacity to govern; people who have integrity and managers of resources; people who know where to invest. The biggest assets of a country are the human beings that live in that country. Nigeria as a nation has not invested in its people.
“It is good we have some physical infrastructure. But you cannot make physical infrastructure without investing in human development. Elect those that can invest in you so that we can have a progressive country that can help everybody.”
He said Nigerians must “resist the temptation by enemies of collective progress, as well as the influence of money bags as Nigeria prepares for the 2023 general elections.”
At the event, former President Goodluck Jonathan, represented by a former Minister of Information and Communication, Labaran Maku, urged the youths to pursue the unity of the nation as the only condition for Nigeria’s continuous development and progress.
Jonathan said, “If every Nigerian is peaceful, the nation will be peaceful. Peace is not necessarily the absence of threat, it is not necessary that everybody is comfortable or there is no problem, but it is the condition precedent of national and, human developments.
“I am calling on the youths of Nigeria, particularly from the Northern part of Nigeria, I am appealing to us, let us do all we can through dialogue, through conferencing and discussion let our nation be at peace again.
“If the youths of Nigeria prepare and say nobody will ever use them again to disrupt peace during elections there will be peace all over Nigeria on election day. Let us make sure that in the coming election the youths join hands together to ensure that 2023 is even more peaceful than previous elections.”
The President-General of NENYLC, Terry Obieh, said the only way forward for Nigeria was for all stakeholders to collectively build the country.
“We are currently inundated with the horrible news that corruption has eaten deep into our fabrics, bad governance, constitutional and political attrition,” he said.
