Public Funds Should Not Be Wasted, Obi Says

Mr. Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate in the February 25 presidential election, has said that Nigeria needs to stop the waste and theft of public funds to move forward.

He said that Nigeria’s challenge is a lack of leadership and that God has endowed the country with all the blessings of life.

He made this remark yesterday at a colloquium and hall of fame in honour of the Labour Party (LP) national chairman, Julius Abure, which was organised by the Edo Policy Round Table in association with Mudiame University, Irrua, in Benin City, Edo State.

The event took place at Bishop Kelly Pastoral Centre, Airport Road, with the theme “Contemporary Nigerian Politics: The Way Forward for Edo State”,

In his goodwill message, Obi said, “We all have our problems; I am not a saint and I am not a criminal. I have never knowingly done anything that is wrong; if I knew it was wrong, I wouldn’t do it.

“I have served in the state, I have served in the private sector, and today we are going through difficulties. We are not here to mention names; I just listened to a very wonderful speech when they were talking about planning. If you have not planned, you plan to fail, and it is very simple.

“The reason why the country is failing today is lack of plan, and when you talk about lack of planning, you are talking about lack of implementation because we politicians, when we are campaigning, everything is sweet and good, but once we have the opportunity, we will bring out our true side and start doing the opposite and reserve our pride for implementation.

“The keynote speaker talked about the country; mine is a goodwill message. Those who have spoken to us and those who will still speak today in this round table policy, try to find out how we can have a better Nigeria. If we have a better Edo State, we would have a better Nigeria.

“All I can tell anyone is that there is nothing wrong with Nigeria. Nigeria has one of the best in terms of land, weather, God-given resources, and people.

“One thing God has not given Nigeria is leadership; if we had a good leader, we would do better.

“A country like Nigeria has no reason to be poor if not because of leadership. If you compare Nigeria with the three biggest economies in Europe—Germany, Britain, and France—these three countries, if you compare them with Nigeria in land size, are just about 20 percent bigger than Nigeria when you put the three together.”

He regretted that Nigeria has a leadership that is involved in waste, focusing on consumption and not production.

“So whenever you are talking of pulling the people out of poverty and creating jobs for the people, it is simple; just remove the economy from consumption to production; you create jobs.”

He stressed the need to stop people from stealing and wasting public money, adding, “It is not their private money, and all of us are involved; we must not celebrate them.”

Obi called on Nigerians to unite and rebuild the country, stressing, “We must bequeath a better Nigeria for our children; we can’t bequeath Nigeria as it is today; we are going to bequeath anarchy to them, suffering, and when you wake up in the morning, all you are hearing is killing.”