Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, believes that while Nigeria is in a serious situation at the moment, all hope is not lost.
Mr Obi stated on Sunday at a Columbia University event organised by the Columbia Africa Business Club and the Black Law Students Association that while the nation’s future appears dark, there is still hope.
Obi stated that there is no ethnicity, religion, or class in the endeavour to rescue Nigeria. “There can, indeed, be no conscientious objector.”
“While Nigeria’s condition is severe, it is not yet hopeless.” That may be a cliche, but it is true,” the former Anambra State governor stated.
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The LP Flagbearer expressed his enormous pride in the Nigerian diaspora population, saying that their contributions have played a significant role in the country’s prosperity.
“On July 25, just over a month ago, we celebrated the over 20 million Nigerians in the diaspora who contribute to the growth and development of our amazing country.” We honoured you.”
Speaking ahead of 2023, Obi stated that his administration will pursue global best practises and standards within the constraints of available resources.
He emphasised that the country must combat greed and impunity, which spawn corruption, and that his administration’s absolute dedication to the rule of law, due process, transparency, and accountability in government operations will be critical to attaining restricted to zero corruption.
Concerning education, he stated that, in the medium and long term, 14% budgeted funding for education is clearly within the realm of possibility.
“We will strive to be globally competitive by increasing funding and ensuring that the (TETFund) resources are redirected to the funding of the Universities and other higher institutions robustly with a view to ending the perennial shrikes by University Staff and workers.
“Within available national resources and (TetFund), there should be funds to reasonably tackle the problems of our tertiary institutions and prevent ASUU strikes. Unfortunately, due to State Capture, TetFund has been grossly mismanaged.
“We intend to change extant and enabling policies to make access to such funds seamless, transparent and dedicated for prescribed purposes.
“We are challenged by high youth unemployment, which stands at 33.3%; 54% for the youth; and 20 million out-of-school-children. We must give this country back to the Nigerian youths. Half of our 200 million people are below the age of 30.
“The median age of this country stands at 17.9, showing that Nigeria has the incredible potentials to develop, if she harnesses the demographic dividends intelligently,” Mr Obi stated.
“Harnessing our national youth strength must start with curbing the high youth unemployment and creating funding access to enable our youths become entrepreneurs and drivers of our Small and Medium Scale enterprises(SMEs).
“We must fund education more robustly, by tweaking the UBEC and TETFund.”
“As a nation, we must look beyond oil. Whatever oil we have will be refined domestically. We will look to solar and other clean energy, especially gas.
“We have over 84 million hectares of arable land. Barely 40% of this arable land is cultivated today. Nigeria’s arable land is her new oil and gold. We will put our land to work for us. We will grow excess grains and use that for clean energy.
“Flutterwave, on its own, was recently valued at US$3 billion. We will create an enabling environment for our startups to thrive. Beyond creating access to easy funding, we will enforce the legal framework protecting foreign investors and their indigenous partners.
“This is the only way to improve our business environment and tamper capital flight.
“We will stop borrowing for consumption. All loans must be invested in regenerative projects.
“Inflation is a factor of spending on goods and services outstripping production. Since we have not resolved the minimum wage issue, we will not use wage and price controls to fight inflation. Rather, we will pursue a contractionary monetary policy. We will mop up excess liquidity by reducing the money supply within an economy.
“The truth is that for long, market forces have not determined the exchange rate of the Naira. The two-tier foreign exchange regime is a fluke. It has to end. Let the exchange rate be determined by the forces of demand and supply. It is that simple.
“Beneficiaries of China’s goodwill and investments in Africa are many. So too are the countries defaulting on their Chinese loans.
“This is a very concerning trend.” “As salutary as it may appear, we must approach such interaction with our national interest foremost in mind,” Obi exclaimed.
