The presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, Peter Obi, has delivered a stinging Independence Day assessment of Nigeria’s political leadership, accusing successive leaders of failing to turn the country’s enormous resources into a better life for its citizens.
Obi said 66 years after independence, Nigerians were still battling poverty, insecurity, hunger, unemployment, poor healthcare and an education crisis despite the country’s abundant human and natural resources.
He said the anniversary should therefore be more than a celebration, insisting that it was time for the country to confront the consequences of decades of poor leadership and failed choices.
Obi said Nigeria’s greatest problem was not a lack of resources but the failure to convert those resources into “human development, productivity, security and shared prosperity.”
His assessment was reinforced by what he said he witnessed during a recent visit to Sokoto State with his running mate, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso.
At the Ramin Kura Internally Displaced Persons camp in Sokoto metropolis, Obi said he found thousands of women and children living in deplorable conditions.
Many of the children, he said, had no access to education, while mothers and children had limited access to basic healthcare.
He described the situation as a troubling picture of Nigerians displaced within their own country.
“These are Nigerians who should be living in their communities, going to school, farming their land, conducting their businesses and contributing to the economy,” Obi said.
“Instead, they live as displaced persons in their own country.”
Obi said the suffering at Ramin Kura was not an isolated case but a reflection of the hardship confronting Nigerians in several parts of the country.
He accused political leaders of failing the country and, most importantly, failing its children.
“The political leaders have failed our country and, most importantly, we have failed our children,” he said.
The NDC candidate said Nigerians must now ask three fundamental questions: where the country is, where it wants to be and how it intends to get there.
He rejected the argument that Nigeria was cursed, saying the country remained “immensely endowed and blessed.”
According to him, the real challenge is the failure of leadership to transform those advantages into measurable improvements in citizens’ lives.
Obi, however, said his message was not one of despair.
He declared that “a new Nigeria is possible,” promising a different approach to governance if elected president.
He said his administration would make governance measurable, accountable and centred on the welfare and productivity of Nigerians.
Obi promised decisive action against insecurity, saying farmers must be able to return to their farms, children to their schools and businesses to operate without fear.
He also promised to move Nigeria from what he described as a consumption-driven economy to one driven by production, jobs, agriculture, manufacturing and human-capital development.
Education, healthcare, security and productive enterprise, he said, would form the foundation of his administration.
In a pointed statement on leadership by example, Obi also pledged not to spend his presidential holidays outside Nigeria if elected.
He said he would instead visit states including Zamfara, Borno, Kwara, Ebonyi, Edo and Ekiti to interact with citizens and understand their challenges.
“I want to continue to see Nigeria. I want to know Nigeria. I want to spend time with Nigerians, listen to them, understand their challenges and celebrate their resilience,” he said.
Obi said the Nigeria he envisaged would be one where public resources were deployed strictly for public good, children could access education, mothers could obtain basic healthcare and young people could find opportunities to work and prosper.
He urged Nigerians to use the 66th Independence anniversary to look back with gratitude, examine the present with honesty and confront the future with courage.
“The Nigeria we desire will not be built by prayers alone, nor by promises alone,” Obi said.