Peter Obi: Nigeria Needs Leaders to Create Wealth, Not Consuming, Sharing

Okon Bassey

A Presidential aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Peter Obi has said that Nigeria presently requires wealth creators and not people who will be consuming and sharing  available resources in the country. 

Obi, a former Governor of Anambra State, made the assertion in Uyo Akwa Ibom State capital yesterday during a consultative meeting with the state chapter of the  PDP and delegates from the state for the party national convention.

The frontline presidential hopeful declared that the era of sharing in Nigeria politics was over as “there is nothing to share anymore”, stressing that the  nation needs another group of leaders to produce resources that will take care of the next generation.

He listed key areas to tackle in the economy to include, education, security, power generation and manufacturing, saying if these are achieved the country will be reposition for greater heights.

He said: “We will invest in education. The more educated your country is, the better your development.  We will invest in health. And most importantly we must put money to bring people out of poverty. The more you put people out of poverty, the more you reduce criminality.

“My mission is to change Nigeria from being a consuming nation to a producing country and from wealth sharing to wealth creation.

“The cake we are sharing now has finished. What we nèed now is to bake more cakes. There is no more cake to share anymore. And those cakes we are going to bake is not for sharing.  We would have a new system where the teeming unemployed youths are given a future. They are going to be driving by the process. So, there is no need to share. Consuming is finished, we are now talking about production. The new Nigeria would be creating and producing not the Nigeria where people are sharing money.”

According to him, Nigeria has wonderful young people. “So, we want to make this place to be a sporting destination because we have talents in sports that we can develop by making sure we develop all levels of sports. That is what we want to do,” he added.

Obi described the lingering nationwide  strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) as a disaster and a potential threat to the country, saying, however, that  there could be alternatives for a  better funding of the universities.

“It is a disaster. I don’t know anyhow anyone can comprehend it. And this was based on agreement reached by ASUU in 2009. But I will do things differently.

“I will sit down with ASUU, and tell them how we can create a new source of revenue for Universities. We cannot play with Education.

I have told the Federal government of Nigeria please pay all outstanding gratuities, pensions, and agreements and negotiate the ones for the future,” he maintained.

The presidential aspirant identified the inability to control the economy and insecurity as factors that contributed to a failed state adding that the time to rescued Nigeria is now.

Accordingly, he tasked the state delegates to vote with the picture of their children in mind not the personality of any candidate and ethnic consideration.

Speaking, the State Chairman of the PDP, Mr. Aniekan Akpan, noted that His Excellency,  Obi was the first presidential aspirant to visit the party in the state and met with the national delegates of the party from the state.

“His Excellency, Mr. Peter Obi is the first presidential aspirant to be received by the party and the delegates to the PDP national convention. Akwa Ibom State will not loss anything if Peter Obi becomes the President of Nigeria because he is our in-law.

“We know your antecedent. We know you have the capacity, competent and above all integrity.

“You are the type of person Nigeria needs. People that have the capacity to rescue Nigeria, and that is what Nigerians are yearning for at time like this,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the PDP in Rivers State, Amb Desmond Akawor, has praised Peter Obi for his undying passion to build a better Nigeria.

He described him as somebody who truly understands Nigeria’s economy.

Akawor stated this when Peter Obi visited Rivers State for his interaction with the PDP family.

He said that Nigeria should be proud of people like Peter Obi who have remained consistent in their struggle for a better Nigeria.

“Undoubtedly, Obi is interested in the development of the country. He does not just preach about how things should be done rightly, but he shows you his track record of success in governance and tells you how he did it rightly, with verifiable evidences.

“Under him, Anambra enjoyed the best road infrastructure, while developing in all fronts. He left behind no debt and even kept a savings of N75 billion for the state, a record yet unbroken in the country. We are very proud to associate with a man like him,” Akawor said.

 Outlining some of their challenges in the state, Akawor expressed gratitude that Obi had already identified some of their challenges on his own.

He regretted that governments at the national level have continued to pay deaf ears to their pains.

In his comments, Obi praised the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, for his infrastructural development in the state.

He described Wike as his brother and friend, and appreciated him for the warm hospitality he granted him in the state.

Obi assured the delegates, and by extension Nigerians, that, if given the chance, he would turn the nation into a highly productive nation, where the youth are productively engaged in different endeavours and people would be well rewarded for their hard work.