Nigeria Has Failed under Buhari, Says Obi

Benjamin Nworie in Abakaliki

Former Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi saturday said that Nigeria under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari has failed the country.

Obi, who spoke as a Guest lecturer in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State during the state Anniversary lecture with the theme “Ebonyi yesterday, today and tomorrow” hinted that the agitations in the country were just beginning and anybody who thought that it has ended or stopped was deceiving himself.

He noted that the various agitations across the country was the cumulative effect of leadership failure that has bedeviled the country since its independence.

He noted that Nigeria was better during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2007 freed the country of debts but the present administration has accumulated debts of $69billion.

He also faulted claims by the Federal Government that the country has exited recession, adding that almost all Nigerians are still feeling greatly the impact of recession.

Obi said: “For me the country has failed, If anybody tells you that Nigeria is doing well, tell them it is a lie, they said that we are out of recession but almost all Nigerians are still feeling greatly the impact of recession”.

The former governor stressed that agitations wouldn’t end because millions of Nigerians in their productive ages have nothing doing and they turn out to be terrorists because of lack of foods on their tables.

The former governor said: “Whenever they talk about Nigeria at 57, I refuse to talk. My opinion is that Nigeria is a failed country, period and that is why you are seeing so many agitations you are seeing today. The agitation is not ending, it’s just begging. It is a cumulative effect of leadership failure over the several years of this country and you can’t stop it because you now have millions of young people in their productive age doing nothing, you can call them anything.

“If you don’t have a job and you have not eaten food in the morning, afternoon and night, tomorrow you are a terrorist quote me anywhere. The only way to stop that is to give them jobs.

“We are moving from baggage economy to knowledge economy. So, the country should stop dwelling on solid mineral because it is a baggage economy and nobody lives with it. This is what Nigeria is doing and we are still talking about oil which is already destined to finish one
day.

“Nigeria should queue into Sustainable Development Goals(SDG), not in
signature. The country is there in signature and it is the only country that got involved in Millennium Development Goal(MDG) and did not achieve one goal because as soon as we signed the signature, we threw it away and came here and started doing things wrongly.

“China put MDGs in their developmental agenda, they mainstreamed it in their developmental agenda and they are targeting to lift 16million people out of poverty but I don’t know how many people Nigeria will lift in the next 10 years because there is no such measurable goals, everything is done in confusion. Our reserve is weak today and we are not talking about savings rather we are borrowing more. In 2007, all our debts were written off and we didn’t owe anybody. But in 2017, when have accumulated a debt of $69billion and nobody is thinking how do we get over this because what we are doing is based on nothing. We just borrow money and share”, Obi stated.

He expressed regret that Nigeria has no qualified leadership to revitalised the economy of the country stressing that the country is still operating in the past.