2023: I’m not desperate to be Nigerian president ― Obi

Former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, on Wednesday said he is not desperate to become the president of Nigeria even as he pointed out that he has unique qualities to govern the country and nurse it back to shape.

The 2019 vice presidential candidate of the main opposition party told journalists in Abuja after officially apprising the PDP national leadership of his intention to vie for its ticket, that he stands out among all those who are in the race for the nation’s plum job.

He said: “You have to check my trajectory as a person, look at all the people that are contesting and view my background, you will probably see that I am the only person who has a very unique background.

“I am a businessman, I have chaired corporations in this country including SEC and so many quoted companies and I have been a governor. It is for you to go and check all those places and see what I have been able to do and ask yourself who is the right person to take leadership of this country at this difficult time.

“Our country is now going through a difficult time. I am not desperate to be a president, I am desperate to see a better Nigeria.”

Given the harsh realities in the country, the former governor advised the PDP to be sure that it creates the enabling environment for the best candidate to emerge as its flagbearer.

He stated: “We are in a crises situation. What the party can do is to allow the best candidate to emerge. Our country is in a crises situation, we are now using over 90% of our budget to service debt.

“First first months of last year, we earned N1,875tr, we used N1,802 to service debt. That is, 98%of our revenue was thrown into servicing debt. Last year we said that on the budget of N13trillion, we were supposed to borrow N4trillion but what we generated was far below. So, we borrowed N6.5 to N7trillion. This year, we said that we are going to generate N20trillion to borrow only N7trillion but I can assure you that we will borrow more than that. So, we have crises on our hands.

“So, in this situation, you need to bring in a competent person, a good manager of resources. We need to manage our resources. That is the crisis we face.

“So, if someone comes and tells you that he can do this and that, ask him to show you where he has done that before. Tell us who you are, and we will look at your past. Where did you do it before? If someone comes today and says am going to save, ask him where did you save.

“If you want to know further, go and read Ngozi Okonjo’s book “Fighting Corruption Is Dangerous” and see all the governor’s who supported and who did not support savings. Peter Obi was the only one who supported savings.”

Speaking on the ongoing economic crisis in the country, the presidential aspirant observed that Nigeria’s condition is bad, saying: “We are now on the top of the list of the most fragile state. We are now on the top of the list of the most terrorised state sitting behind Yemen and Afghanistan.

“We are the capital of poverty in the world. We now have more people living in poverty than most big nations combined. We now have several millions of out of school children.

“Unemployment is 33% officially but when you add underemployment, it is about 55%. 60% of these are the young ones who constitute the asset and the engine room of their productive age.

“People now spend 100% of their salary to feed. It is a crises situation. What will somebody like me do?

“We need to move the country from consumption to production. There is nothing to share again, we now need wealth creators, not wealth shearers. We have been sharing wealth for a long time, we need to start creating wealth.

“Am coming coming from that background, basically as a trader who has created wealth in private space and in government space. We now need to shut down out cost of governance and everything.

“So, go and look at the trajectory of where people were coming from and check all the places I have been given responsibility including being a governor. You saw what I did in Anambra State, you saw what I saved and all that.

On security, he stated: “On security, we have what we call natural security and artificial security. The natural security deals with job creation, you need to put food on people’s tàble to ensure that they are not doing the wrong thing. If they don’t know where the next meal will come from, the tendency is that they will become a tool for anything.

“So, we need to employ people. I know what to do in puting money into micro, small and medium scale enterprises. I have experimented in a small way that people can see. Otherwise, how could a small state like Anambra end up on the day I was handing over not owing salary, pension, no contractor who has executed his job, raised certificate or supplied goods to us were being owed. I have N77billion which is over $500 million at that time in the bank. I know what we can effectively do to turn around the situation.”

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