The 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, has lamented the grim situation in Nigeria and called on the government to take urgent steps to improve it.
Obi, in a statement on Monday via his account on the X platform, lamented that about 7,000 Nigerians have been kidnapped in the past one year while several cases of killings and clashes have also been recorded.
He added that the country now has one of the hungriest people in the world, and the economic outlook is bleak.
Obi also lamented the state of electricity, healthcare, out-of-school children and other basic amenities, urging the government to address the downward trend.
In the view of the former Anambra State Governor, with all that is going on, Nigeria can’t attract foreign investors and the confidence of local investors is not guaranteed as well.
According to him, “In the past 1 year, about 7000 Nigerians have been kidnapped, with about 700 kidnapped in the last 3 weeks, not withstanding the violent crimes and killings that occur in every part of the nation, which must have included us in one of the world’s riskiest countries to live in.
“A report by the globally respected publication, Financial Times, on March 12, 2024, described Nigeria’s kidnapping racket as a sign of a failed state. With all of these happening in our nation, how then can we attract foreign investors, & retain the confidence of local investors?
We have become one of the hungriest nations in the world and one of the most difficult nations in the world to live in, with food prices constantly going out of the reach of most Nigerians. Power supply is abysmally poor and Nigerians are now mostly in total darkness,as over 60% are without power supply. Even those in perceived privileged areas now go for days without power supply.
A 2022 Energy Progress Report designated Nigeria as the country with the largest number of people lacking access to electricity with 92 million of its over 200 million population living without electricity. About 80 percent of our primary healthcare centres are not functional. The cost of medical treatments and medicines have gone beyond the reach of most Nigerians.
We now hold the enviable position of having the highest number of out of school children, with about 20 million out-of-school children. We need to take our children off the streets and give them access to basic education.”
The former Governor, therefore, called on the federal government to re-allocate resources to the very critical areas of the nation’s life.
“I, therefore, urge our executive and legislative arms to consider the many challenges facing our nation and re-allocate resources to these very critical areas. This is the time for complete sacrifice. A New Nigeria is still very POssible,” he added.
