The Labour Party Presidential Candidate, Mr Peter Obi, was a guest of Chatham House, the famous British international Policy institute, where he spoke about the offerings if his presidency if elected in the February 25 poll.
Obi said that Nigeria’s Presidency on the watch of his joint ticket with Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed would dismantle inefficiency and eliminate transactional policies that bred corruption in government.
Obi who took over 15 questions from the audience after his expository and elucidatory paper on various sectors said they would dismantle the structure of criminality which they had been using to hold the country down.
He said: “there will be no sacred cow” under the Obi-Datti administration.
The Labour Party Presidential candidate said that “our objective is to dismantle these structures of criminality and enthrone competence, character, and capability so that talents and ideas can flourish.”
On how he intended to cope with possibly having a National Assembly that might be dominated by other parties, Obi said he went through such experience as Governor of Anambra state when none of the 30 members of the State of Assembly came from his political party, adding that what he needed to navigate such case was to do the right thing, avoid nepotism and transactional policies, because even the parliamentarians desired good governance.
Responding to question on the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) and why he had not condemned them, Obi said that for him and many other reasonable Nigerians including Igbos, the Biafra war ended 53 years ago.
He said, however, that he was not oblivious of the agitators’ demands for justice.
According to him, “we are going to look into the issue of justice and marginalization on which some of them are hinging their grievances.
“We are going to apply the carrot and stick in dealing with the agitators. But in the end there can only be one government and we will be in charge.”
On how to attract investors to Nigeria which was asked by a former British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Paul Arkwright, Obi likened what he intended to do to attract investors to “bee and and honey” relationship.
He said he would create an enabling environment “where rule of law thrives” and would avoid any transactional policies “which breeds corruption and weakens governance.”
On security, he said it would be his top priority because everything would be done to secure the environment.
He said he would do this by first turning the country into production and pulling people out of poverty and adequately utilizing the nation’s military.
Obi noted: “Our military once secured Africa and they should secure Nigeria and we will provide the needed leadership and political will.”
He also answered questions on the independence of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), saying that what was happening in the apex bank now was a consequence of a mix up of responsibilities and not necessarily of competence, a situation he assured Nigerians his regime would correct “by ensuring that square pegs are in square holes both in personnel and policies.”
Obi also said that the on-going fiscal rascality in the system would be dismantled, and order and discipline injected into the country’s monetary policies.
On how to navigate the so-called “big boys” to be able see through his beautiful policies if elected, the LP standard bearer said the challenge would be surmounted as there would be no sacred cows.
The former Anambra state Governor also provided answers to questions on education, Health, and debt servicing, among others, to win the consistent applause from the audience.
Obi gave indication of his preparedness for the programme when he was offered seat by the moderator of the programme and he respectfully rejected it, saying the problem in Nigeria his country was so serious and not for sitting down. He stood all through the nearly two-hour programme.
A statement by Obi-Datti Media office said that millions of people within and outside the country followed the programme via social media and 99% of the comment’s eulogized the candidate for his brilliant outing.
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