Former Anambra State Governor and Vice Presidential candidate at the 2019 elections, Peter Obi has said that discussions economic development are more fundamental than the current agitation for power shift.
Speaking on Saturday, Obi said zoning the presidency to the Southeast will not automatically fix issues in the region, stating that “It is not as if you will pick a president from one zone, automatically, everything goes right.
“We need to make the country productive. At the present, the country is not productive. We need to restructure it and make it work,” he remarked.
He added that personally, he supports that each zone should have a chance of producing the president; however, there are more important things including “taking decisions on the several schools that are closed in the North. I do not see them being aggressive about how to make the country productive. Where the president comes from cannot change anything unless we have a leadership that is competent.”
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“So, let’s discuss the issue of insecurity, issue of economy so that people can get jobs. We in the South-East want the presidency. We want to produce the next president. But is it going to be automatic that once you give it to us, there will be food on people’s table? No! So, while this is being addressed, let’s talk about the country, the survival of the country; fixing that engine, not talking of hiring a driver yet because the engine has a problem.”
The former Governor also speaking on Nigeria’s 61st Independence celebration said the anniversary is more of reflection because there was nothing to celebrate.
He added that Nigeria used to be at least a safer country, in terms of security, citing that the different ethnic groups worked together as a family and the economy was better, but everything has now gone bad.
Peter Obi cited that over the years there has been a failure of leadership, highlighting that Nigeria’s Leaders over the years were not visionary and not willing to make sacrifices.
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“First is that we need to look back at our leadership selection process. It is a critical thing. We need to start a proper leadership selection process that will throw up people who are competent, have the capacity and above all, the integrity and the ability to sacrifice in building a better future for the country,” he said.
On the economy, he warned that Nigeria was on the verge of collapse adding that “We are back in a debt trap. The country is not productive. The components that make the economy work are not there.
He further stated, “From January to May, our total revenue was about N1.845 trillion. Our expenditure within that period was N4.812 trillion. Our borrowing to support that was about N3 trillion. Our total servicing of the debts was N1.802 trillion. So, in effect, if you minus revenue and the ones we used to service debt, we have only about N40 billion in actual net revenue receipt.”
He warned that the national debt discussion should be focused on debt-to-revenue, not debt-to-GDP, citing that when your revenue is low, you have a problem.