Peter Obi and the promise of re-engineering work on Nigeria

For a very long time now, Peter Obi has been seen by many as the conscience of Nigeria. At various fora, he is the man for keynote speeches. For many years now, he has been a regular face at August seminars and conferences where he tells the story of the possibility of retooling Nigeria. He sees hope and preaches messages of hope, despite the nadir to which Nigeria has slipped over the years.

At such events, he talks about how he jump-started the Anambra economy that was totally dead before he arrived on the scene as governor. He tells the story of how he awards contracts without kickback, which is at variance with what goes on in government circles in the country.

He tells of the large sum of raw cash he left in the coffers for his successor when he was exiting office. Obi often speaks on the immorality of public office holders burning the tax payers’ money through lavish lifestyles such as huge hotel bills; fleet of cars; unnecessary retinue of aides, among others.

Everywhere he goes, he talks about practical ways Nigeria can be saved from the stranglehold of wasters in the name of leaders. When he paired with a former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar to contest the 2019 presidential election, many Nigerians cheered.

He wants to stand on his own merit this time around. Everyone knows that the major problem of Nigeria is the way the economy is being handled. Many Nigerians believe that with a man that knows his onion in this regard, Nigeria would, under his supervision, be like a paradise in no time at all.

Every solution to any problem begins with the proper diagnosis of that problem. Every antidote to a malady also begins with accurate diagnosis of the illness. That there has been a failure of governance in Nigeria has a causative agent that must be properly diagnosed, analysed and well understood by anybody who tries to seek the highest office in the land. The point at which Nigeria is at the moment goes beyond people seeking to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari to add as part of their resume. This is the point Obi has stressed so much during his consultations with Nigerians.

When Lee Kuan Yew came to power in Singapore, he knew what he wanted to do. Before he came on board, everything about Singapore had died as it is with Nigeria, currently. But rising from a legacy of divisive colonialism, the devastation of the Second World War, and general poverty and disorder following the withdrawal of foreign forces, Singapore is today, hailed as a city of the future. This dramatic turnaround was made possible by a man, who fearlessly forged ahead and brought about most of the changes seen in that country today.

When President Franklin Delano Roosevelt took over the reins of power in the United States of America in 1933, the country was mired in Great Depression. But he offered the New Deal, and using the principle of Quantitative Easing, he spent America out of her depression. He knew what he wanted from day one.

The New Deal restored a sense of security as it put people back to work. It created the framework for a regulatory state that could protect the interests of all Americans, rich and poor, and thereby help the business system work in more productive ways.

Since he declared his intention to seek the ticket of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to run for the presidency in 2023, Peter Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, has left no one in doubt about what he aspires to do in office.

Read also: Road to 2023: Profiles of the Presidential aspirants

For him, it is not “about politics” or about the euphoria of contesting the presidency. It is about rebuilding Nigeria.

As he continues to crisscross the length and breadth of the country on consultation, he warns about the impending doom should Nigeria fail to get it right this time around.

He backs his assertions with available data in the public space, analysing the dire implications of such data on the future of the country and of the people.

Obi laments high level of profligacy in government

When he met with the PDP Senate caucus last week, he pointedly told them how he wanted to save the country from the brinks.
As a man at home with figures, he recalled that in the first five months of last year, “As a nation we earned 1.847 trillion; we used N1.802trillion, which is about 98percent, to service debts, remaining N45 billion for a nation of 200 million people.”

He looked at the senators in the face and said: “You approved last year a budget of N14 trillion and we are supposed to borrow N4 trillion, in the end we borrowed about six, seven trillion. This year, you approved a budget of N17 trillion, which the government said they were going to generate a revenue of over N10 trillion, from where? And that’s why I am first pleading with you; can we build a better Nigeria? It is not about politics, it is not about who becomes president, who becomes governor, we can make this country better.”

‘Nothing more to share…’

When he met with the PDP House of Representatives caucus at the residence of the Minority Leader, Ndudi Elumelu, the presidential aspirant urged the legislators to join hands with him to build a better country.
“We cannot allow what we are doing now to continue. We can build a better country. What we are doing now will take a revenge on our children. That’s why I came to plead with you; it is not about election; it is not about who will be the next president; it is not about who will share…; there is nothing to share again; what we are sharing is finished. Everybody has to now make sacrifices for the future of our children,” he said.

‘Let’s create a future for the country’

Last week, he took his consultation to the members of the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT).
As his manner is, he spoke to them without clutching heaps of files containing prepared speeches; talking points or power point presentation. He spoke straight from his wealth of experience as a leader and as a Nigerian feeling the bite of the prevailing maladministration. He has long diagnosed Nigeria’s multi-dimensional maladies and believed he has antidotes to them all. What Nigeria needs to come alive is on his finger tips; hence, he does not labour at any event to rummage through a park of files during presentations.

He began by reminding them that “The country you used to know; the country you are part of building is no longer there.”
He warned: “If Nigeria gets it wrong in 2023 (which is to enable Nigeria to start rebuilding again) I can assure you that it would not take time for some of you who would still be there at that time to be refugees somewhere.”
Why did he think so? Obi reeled out statistics to support his claim that Nigeria is indeed in a very bad shape. “Nigeria is on top of the list of fragile failing states. Go and look at the list of terrorised nations, Nigeria is No 3. We are now ranked the same place as Afghanistan and Yemen. Today, we are the world poverty capital; what it means is that Nigeria has more people living with poverty than the two biggest countries of the world combined – China and India (2.8 billion). We have more people living in poverty than the two countries combined. We today have 50 million children out of school; 60 to 70 percent of them have never been to school at all. So, they are not out of school; they have never even experienced it not to talk of coming out of it.

“Your country’s stress level – this country is now the most stressful place for people to live in. Go and check the stress level index. The misery index has also worsened. We have the highest employment rate compared to South Africa. We have 33percent unemployment; when you include underemployment; that is 55percent out of which 60percent of this are young people in their productive age doing nothing. At the age they are supposed to be the engine of production, they are not doing everything. So you have millions of them all over the space.
“We have just also overtaken India in infant mortality. The list is endless: In drug prevalence now, the global rate is 5.8percent Nigeria is 14.9percent and 70percent is among the young ones; that is where your country is. Your debt level is totally unacceptable.”

He further told the BoT members that all the loans being approved by the Senate have put the country in a mess. “Today, we are owing 98percent of our revenue to debt. And I can tell you by end of this year, it will be hundred and something percent of our revenue.

Nigeria tending towards a failed country

There’s no way a country can survive that way. Look at what is happening everywhere in the North today; do we still have a country? Do we still have a country when we have people who can kidnap and take the victims somewhere and calling with phones in this age of technology and you can’t do anything to them? There’s something wrong; it does show that people do not just want to take a decision. The first ingredient of a failed country is when the government is no longer in control of its territory.
How can we get Nigeria to work? Things are going wrong just because we have leaders who do not have the capacity, the competence and who want to waste everybody’s time; running around and creating nothing. My dear fathers, my dear mothers, let’s create a future for the country. What we are going through now will take a revenge on your grand children.

…But there is hope

The belief in the polity is that Nigeria’s situation is redeemable, provided the right driver can get behind the wheels.

While he was the governor of Anambra State, apart from not owing the workers, contactors or any person or group that had financial dealings with the state, he bequeathed to his successor humongous amount of money to pay three-month salaries, run schools for a year and start more projects. He left a whopping N75 billion ($156 million in savings, and jaw-dropping sum in naira) with documents to prove same.

Today, if the ovations that he receives everywhere he goes is a sign of acceptance and yearning for a deliverer; now is the time to bring him on board to put into practice what he has been preaching over the years.

Writing on ‘Why Nigeria needs to elect an Igbo president in 2023’ Farooq Kperogi, a professor of Journalism at State Kennesaw University, United States, said, “In a March 25, 2022, article titled ‘Peter Obi: Applying to Be Driver of a Knocked-Out Car,’ I mentioned that listening to his speeches has captured my imagination. He appears to have a handle on Nigeria’s problems, and what I’ve read of his record as governor of Anambra State inspires some confidence that he isn’t just a talker. I can’t speak to his cosmopolitanism and commitment to seeing all of Nigeria as his constituency. That’s up to voters to find out.”