By Valentine Amanze, Online Editor
Anambra State former Governor and Vice Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDp) in the 2019 general elections, Mr. Peter Obi, has prayed God for a more productive 2021 for Nigerians.
He said that God’s intervention would end the painful challenges, which faced the people in 2020, while urging Nigerians to continue to pray and work harder.
Obi, who made the appeal in his New Year message, said that going by socio-economic review of economic indices worldwide, the year 2021 would be challenging globally, especially for Nigeria which has suffered from years of mismanagement of resources, that ended up aggravating the current economic recession.
His words: “Nigeria found itself in many unpleasant positions in the year 2020. Nigeria overtook India as the country with highest under five mortality rates.
“Nigeria now has the highest prevalence of drug abuse in the world. We were named the most stressful country in the world, with a life expectancy ratio of 55 years. Nigeria is today ranked the most terrorised country in Africa and third in the world.
“A recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) report shows that Nigeria’s economy will shrink further by 4.3%, pushing over 11 million more Nigerians into poverty. This when added to the already 98 million people living in poverty in Nigeria, will leave more than half of the population living in poverty, a dangerous situation for any nation”, Obi said.
Obi also urged Nigerians to see 2021 as a year of correcting the mistakes of the past and contributing to build a better nation.
He however appealed to those in authority to see the challenges nations were facing as an opportunity to approach governance from entirely different perspectives, which, according to him, should include drastic cut in the cost of governance to save money for infrastructural development.
He called on the leaders to apply high discipline in governance, especially with respect to public finances, saying that if public funds are well used for national development, Nigeria’s economy will surely turn around for good.
The former governor urged Nigerians to embrace innovation and entrepreneurship in 2021, arguing that the future will be driven by such.
Obi said that over-dependence of the people, especially youths, on government was not good for the nation.
He argued that Nigerians, through innovation and entrepreneurship, could drive Nigeria’s economy high, reducing unemployment and generating more revenue for the government.
Obi further urged everyone to remember that “we have no other country but our dear nation Nigeria. We must unite as one to build the Nigeria of our dreams.
“Let us remember Nigeria and our leaders in prayers always and may God bless every one of us in the year 2021”.