Obi appealed to all Nigerians, especially the youths, to shun every form of primordial sentiments.
By Jeffrey Agbo
Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, on Saturday called on Nigerian youths to see the 2023 general elections as an opportunity to “take back their country”.
Speaking at the Success Conference 2022 held at the Citi-Hub in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State capital, Obi described the youths as key agents of change in advancing national development.
Obi noted that Nigeria is not bereft of good ideas and plans that will move the country forward. He, however, added that institutional weaknesses and lack of political will to implement them are undermining Nigeria’s development efforts.
Obi acknowledged that the new administration taking office in 2023 would face a plethora of domestic and external challenges “provoked by cumulative leadership failures over the years.”
He said, “Our country is currently one of the most miserable in terms of poverty rate, number of out-of-school children, infant and under-5 mortality rate, life expectancy, and a host of others. All these problems, though difficult, are not unsolvable.
“With the right leadership with political will and commitment to addressing these problems, a new Nigeria, where everybody including the most vulnerable and excluded group like youths, women, and children will become the key stakeholders in the decision-making process, is possible.”
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Obi stressed his commitment to a purposeful leadership that draws its strength from all Nigerians, particularly the youths, in policy formulation and administration.
He said, “If elected the next president of Nigeria, youths would be the main proponents of my main agenda to transform Nigeria from a consuming nation to a producing nation. The two main components of this agenda are human capital development and finance. Incidentally, the central goal of today’s conference is to improve the quality of human capital.
“Thus, under my leadership, the Federal Government will prioritise the ability of our educational system to produce the necessary skilled labour force that coincides with the 21st-century labour market demand, alongside providing entrepreneurial education at all levels.
“In addition, given the role of health in reinforcing education in the measure of productivity, my leadership will pay serious attention to the health system by ensuring that at least 100 million poor Nigerians have access to free medical services through an integrated health insurance scheme.
“With respect to finance, the lack of government-backed sizeable venture capital funds is a significant adverse factor in the finance mix for SMEs and young entrepreneurs at the grassroots level. If elected, we intend to create a professionally managed SME Equity Fund within the first year of office with the goal of promoting the development of at least one value-added industry that will utilize the local raw material supply, be it agricultural or mineral, in every local government in Nigeria. our collaboration with global organizations like UNIDO and Afrexim Bank will ensure that the goods from these local enterprises will be of export grade.”
Obi added, “In conclusion, I wish to appeal to all Nigerians, especially the youths, to see the 2023 election as an opportunity to take back their country and more importantly shun every form of primordial sentiments.
“The 2023 election should be based on competence, capacity and commitment to doing the right thing and not on ethnicity/tribe and religion since the high cost of living, insecurity and other problems that are facing us have no discrimination against ethnicity/tribe and religion.”
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