Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, has raised concerns about Nigeria’s worsening poverty crisis, claiming that the country now has more impoverished citizens than China, Indonesia, and Vietnam combined.
Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, made the remarks during a lecture titled ‘Politics and Change in Nigeria’ at Johns Hopkins University in the United States on Thursday. The lecture was delivered at the invitation of Professor Peter Lewis, author of ‘Growing Apart: Comparing Indonesia and Nigeria’.
In his address, Obi attributed the escalating poverty levels in Nigeria to a failure in leadership, emphasizing that the country’s future hinges on the quality of its political leadership. He stressed that competent, compassionate, and integrity-driven leaders are crucial for achieving sustainable development and economic growth.
“Political leadership plays a decisive role in the fate of a nation. The failure of Nigeria as a nation is largely due to its leadership,” Obi said. “A competent leadership with integrity will lead a nation towards sustainable growth.”
Drawing a stark comparison, Obi noted that while countries like China, Indonesia, and Vietnam have made significant strides in human development over the past 35 years, Nigeria has regressed. He highlighted that these nations have successfully lifted millions out of poverty, while Nigeria’s situation has worsened.
Obi’s remarks come amid a report from the World Bank, which predicts that despite Nigeria’s wealth of natural resources, the nation’s poverty rate will continue to rise, with more citizens expected to fall below the poverty line by 2027.
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