The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, has said that fiscal recklessness, inability to tackle insecurity and corruption have been primarily responsible for Nigeria’s failing economy.
Obi also said that domestic problems, caused by leadership failure, have damaged the unity and cohesiveness of the country.
The former Anambra State governor, while speaking at the Private Sector Economic Forum organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Monday, said the government that would succeed the Major Gen. Muhammadu Buhari regime in 2023 would be confronted by an array of daunting challenges, both domestic and external.
Obi, who said Nigeria was not bereft of transformative ideas from brilliant minds, noted that institutional weakness and lack of political will had led to poor outcomes that had affected the people. He regretted that Nigeria now had frightening levels of poverty, unemployment rate and out-of-school children.
According to him, given our history, politics and governance challenges, moving Nigeria forward would require concerted efforts and a shift from coercive to consensus approach.
“The government that will come in 2023 will be confronted by an array of daunting challenges, both domestic and external,” Obi said.
The domestic ones have accumulated over the years, and because of leadership failure, have not been dealt with, and these have impacted heavily on our unity, social cohesion as well as the economic outcome. It has affected us negatively.
“Our country today is bad news. We now have the concentration of the highest number of people living in poverty, the highest number of out of school children, and the highest rate of unemployment.”
He said that leapfrogging Nigeria from oil dependence to industrial revolution, improving human capital development, and formulating good foreign policy must be brought to the front burner in order to revive the nation’s ailing economy.