By Linus Aleke, Abuja
The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, has said that Nigeria already exhibits two critical symptoms of a failed state, lack of control over our territory and economic collapse.
Obi made this disclosure while addressing members of the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International – Nigeria (FGBMFI), at the National Christian Centre during its Nigeria National Council meeting in Abuja over the weekend.
The LP presidential candidate, therefore, told the fellowship to get involved in the Nigeria rescue mission.
A statement signed by its chairman, Media and Publicity, FGBMFI – NIGERIA, Cosmas Uzodinma, said Obi arrived at the event at 8.21 pm from Ebonyi State after a series of rallies and town hall meetings in the South-East.
Uzodima said the LP candidate told members of FGBMFI that, “In the past 20 years of our democracy, all we have produced is insecurity, poverty, out-of-school children, misery and pain. Nobody is sure how much a loaf of bread would cost tomorrow. Bread we used to buy for N400 is now N1,100.”
Obi also bemoaned the staggering 133 million Nigerians under the clutches of what he called ‘multidimensional poverty’, higher than the combined figure of India and China, which have over 2.8 billion people.
He said Nigeria is the only OPEC country that is not producing its quota at a time it needs all the money.
He disclosed, “In July 2022, our oil production was 1.082 million barrels, when our quota was 1.8 million barrels per day. We thus lost 717,000 barrels every day, leading to a loss of about N22.227m per day. It is good we pray; it is good that we are doing everything, but it is time not to be righteous with those who are stealing public money”.
Assuring Nigerians that an LP government, when voted into power, would secure and unite the country, Obi concluded that his administration would also pull the people out of poverty and harness the numerous agricultural and industrial potentials of Nigeria to get the country working again, as well as move the people from consumption to production.
Earlier, FGBMFI President, Ifeanyi Odedo, said the Nigerian National Council meeting is the highest policy-making body of the organisation, and serves the role of congress as it is attended by all the national leadership, national directors, field representatives, and the over 3,500 chapter presidents from across the nation.
He noted that members are patriotic citizens, who not only pray for Nigeria but also contribute their own quota to the development of the country in both the marketplace and public service.
