Nigeria has the traits of a failing state, according to Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s (LP) presidential candidate for the 2023 elections.
In Lagos, he made this statement during the 62nd annual general meeting of the Nigerian Bar Association. Leaders in the fields of justice delivery, technology, the economics, politics, judicial reforms, human rights, and the rule of law were present at the 2022 NBA conference, which had the subject “Bold Transitions.”
Mr. Obi observed that the impending election in 2023 is not about tribe or religion but rather about character and competence. He stated that Nigeria needed to make a bold transformation from a highly unsecured state to a highly secured state.
Nigeria exhibits the three main traits of a failed state, according to Mr. Obi, who was speaking on the topic “Democratic Transitions in 21st Century Nigeria: 2023 and Beyond.”
Nigeria has the criteria for being a failed state, Obi declared. We exhibit two or three of the most telling signs of a failed state. One is when you lose control of your sphere of influence.
“Today, we are among the nations that are most frequently targeted by terrorism and kidnapping. Nigerians are dying as a result of banditry in several areas of the nation.
Mr. Obi added that as a result of poor leadership, Nigeria is currently in a difficult situation.
Nigeria is in disarray. We arrived here purely as a result of terrible leadership’s compounding effects. The upcoming election is about ability and character, not tribe or religion. We must make a bold transformation from a situation of extreme insecurity to one of extreme security, he urged.
He continued, “Out of 200 million Nigerians, 60% are supposed to be employed. There should be 120 million Nigerians in the labour force, but there are currently only about 60 million of them.
“We are in a physical mess, total physical mess because of all this. Between January this year and April, the total revenue of the federal government of Nigeria is N1,630,000,000, 000 but expenditure is N4,720,000,000,000. If you minus this, we have a deficit of N3,100,000,000,000.”
“How did we come here? It is the effect of leadership failure over the years. What are we going to do to come out of this?
“You need to have visionary, articulated, competent leadership.
“The elections we are going to have next year will not be about tribe nor religion, not connections, not entitlements, it must be elections about character, competence, capacity and solutions to deliver.” Mr Obi added.
