By Valentine Amanze
Obi has advised Nigerians, especially the clergy to continue talking about all aspects of governance in the country, saying that the danger in keeping quiet is that those in authority might be sufficiently shielded by their aides from knowing the true position of things in the country.
He said that part of the problem those in authority face was that the vocal ones that enjoy one favour or the other from the government were always dumb to the problems of the country.
Obi said they should at least use sign language if they had lost the faculty of speech.
Obi spoke during a visit to Pope John 11 Major Seminary, Okpuno.
Obi, who addressed the students after eating breakfast with them, touched on wide issues including spiritual, social and economics.
He dispelled the belief that leaders view criticisms as subversive to government, saying, on the contrary, that great leaders listen to criticisms of genuine patriots and act on the basis of that.
Using himself as an example, he said: “As the Governor and even now, I listen to what people say because no person is perfect. Even though some talk out of other reasons thereby standing truth on its head, there are genuine critics who speak out of love for the country. When such people talk, as humans one might get annoyed. But I assure you that those sort of things help one to reflect in one’s quiet moment.”
Obi, who called for more commitment on the part of the Presidency to all areas of concern, gave the areas as health, security, education and employment.
He said that critical analysis of other countries would show that Nigeria has not invested enough in critical areas.
“Take education as an example, what Nigeria budgets on education in seven years is far less than what South Africa budgets in a year”, Obi said.
Referring to Seminarians as the “priests of tomorrow”, Obi reminded them that they were being trained to become leaders either in the religious or secular world and that they could only make a success of it by being receptive to the training they are receiving today.
Besides, the Rector of the school, Fr. Benjamin Ewelu, in his address, thanked Obi for his revolutionary imprint still visible in every part of the state. Even while calling for his further assistance towards solving myriad of problems confronting them, he particularly thanked him for what he did for them when he was the governor, namely the construction of the road to the school, the checking of the menace of erosion and some of the infrastructure he helped to provide for the school.
The visit of Obi was heralded with joy among the 300 students and staff of the school. One of the students, Ugwu Christian, summarized his speech thus: “The encounter was spiritual, political, economic and social awareness.”