Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, has blamed the economic hardship currently being faced by Nigerians on the bad leaders that have mounted the helm of affairs of this country in successive times despite being blessed with resources and human.
The presidential candidate of LP who was a Special Guest of Honour at an event entitled Edo Policy Round Table and Colloquium & Hall of Fame Award in honour of Julius Abure, National Chairman of the LP, stated that the reason why Nigeria is still in its present state is because of lack of planning by leaders.
The Edo Policy Round Table and Colloquium & Hall of Fame Award held at Bishop Kelly Pastoral Centre, Benin City, was in collaboration with Mudiame University, Irrua, Edo State.
Speaking further, Obi said Nigeria has no reason to be a poor country but lack of planning by leaders and Implementation bad policy is what is affecting the country.
He said: “The reason why the country is failing today is lack of planning, and when you talk about lack of planning, you are talking about lack of implementation. We politicians, when we are campaigning, everything is sweet and good, but once we have the opportunity, we would bring out our true side and start doing the opposite.
“All I can tell any body is, there is nothing wrong with Nigeria; Nigeria has one of the best in terms of land, weather, God given resources and the people. One thing God has not given Nigeria is good leadership, if we have good leaders we would do better.
“A country like Nigeria has no reason to be poor if not because of leadership. If you compare Nigeria with the three biggest economy in Europe – Germany, Britain and France. If you compare these three countries with Nigeria in land size, they are just about 20 percent bigger than Nigeria .”
“We have leadership that involved in waste and consumptions but no production. So, whenever you are talking of pulling the people out of poverty and creating jobs for the people , it is simple, just remove the economy from consumption to production, you create job.”
Chief Host of the event and founder, Mudiame University, Irrua, Professor S.E Eromesele, said Nigerian are living the country because of poor policy, hence the need to discuss policy implementation cannot be overemphasized.
He lamented that Edo State is presently crippled, hence it needs to rise.
“It is time to rise against bad governance; move against poverty,”Eromesele said .