Bad leadership has seriously damaged Nigeria, Obi tells Nigerians in Canada

Peter Obi
Peter Obi addressing Nigerians resident in Canada on Sunday, August 28, 2022, during his visit. Photo: Peter Obi (Facebook)

By Emmanuel Babafemi

Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, has told Nigerians residing in Canada that the country has been battered by bad leadership back home.

In his opinion expressed to a gathering of Nigerians he addressed during a town hall meeting in Canada, Obi said “bad leadership has seriously damaged Nigeria.”

Consequent, the former Anambra State governor said the time is now for Nigerians to rescue the country and put an end to bad governance.

Obi spoke in Toronto, Canada, on Sunday, August 28, 2022, in an interactive town hall meeting with Nigerian residents on the future of Nigeria.

He said his political drive for 2023 together with his team is to transform Nigeria, adding that his vision and mission is to give full expression to “our democracy by moving our country from consumption to production.”

For the economic transformation, Obi said that his Labour Party “intends to make it (the economy) more productive, thus creating employment and prosperity for millions of youths, reducing poverty in the land, and addressing issues of criminality and insecurity.”

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He further said: “We will aggressively pursue human capital development in the education and health sectors with available resources while striving to adopt best global practices.

“We will have zero tolerance for corruption and will cut the cost of governance. Total commitment to transparency and accountability in government business is the only credible way to achieve limited to zero corruption.

“We will pursue intangible assets of good governance, rule of law, security of lives and properties, through an aggressive increase in personnel and equipment, and inclusive training of operatives in our security agencies.

“We will emphasize patriotism, national interest and national morale, quality of governance, political will, and character as complementary to others. We will ensure that we have these assets in place and stress asset optimization.”

Obi informed that his team intends to “lay special emphasis on critical infrastructures, especially Power, to ensure a clear measurable increase of today’s generation, transmission and distribution by 200 per cent within the shortest possible time, through a public-private partnership.

“We will aggressively pursue increased contribution of ICT to overall economic growth and national development.”

Obi lauded the Nigerian Diaspora, saying it represents a broad segment of Nigeria’s human development capital, and that with that population, the Diaspora family can catapult any nation to greatness.

He said the Nigeria Diaspora has the capacity, and therefore must have a commensurate voice.

Obi who expressed optimism that under his leadership, Africa will remain the centrepiece of Nigeria’s foreign policy, contended that his administration will improve Nigeria’s diplomatic sphere of influence through peacekeeping, trade, and investment initiatives.

“By the 2027 elections, Nigeria Diaspora must have a voice via absentee ballots, ” Obi said.