After 59 years of tottering on the path of greatness, Peter Obi, a one-time Governor of Anambra State, has proffered three antidotes that can aid the country in attaining meaningful development.
Speaking Tuesday at The Platform, a programme by the Covenant Christian Centre, Iganmu, Lagos that marked Nigeria’s 59th Independence Day, Obi listed security of life and properties, quality education and economy with emphasis to solve unemployment.
“Nigeria is living on a cliff…There are major factors affecting the growth of the nation which are security, education and our economy (with emphasis on solving the current underemployment and unemployment situation),” he stated.
According to him, no government exists without securing the lives and properties of the citizens, noting that Nigeria needs to do something very quickly and drastically on its present security situation.
“The number one job of any government in any society is to provide security for lives and properties. If you cannot do that then the government does not exist.”
Obi said: “Nigeria is now the third most insecure place to live on the surface of the earth. We are now behind Afghanistan and Syria, and with daily killings, banditry and kidnappings, it is being speculated that Nigeria will soon overtake them.
Mr Obi explained that one of the major things needed in the country to grow its economy is an investment but questioned how secured the nation is for investors.
He noted that security is a fundamental factor that attracts foreign investors.
On borrowing and not impacting on the development of the country, he lamented that Federal Government borrowing without any plan to invest in capital projects that will repay the loan could kill the economy of the country.
“We are borrowing but it is not impacting our growth. One of the crises we face as a country is the high level of our debt accumulation. If you borrow money for shaku, shaku dance, you are finished.
“Today, Nigeria’s debt is about 28 trillion dollars. Our debt to GDP is about 25%. Singapore’s debt to GDP is 100%. In Singapore, you can only borrow for capital projects that will pay itself back.
“Nigeria’s unemployment rate is over 25%, global life expectancy is 75 years, while for Nigeria, it is 54 years.
“Our under-employment and unemployment is one of the worst in the world. People will tell you it is about 25 percent, it is actually over 30 percent. And with over 22 million young people in their productive age doing nothing, it is very worrisome.
“If you come to inequality, Nigeria’s inequality today is the worst; 157/157. We are the worst if you look at the Oxfam report. In Nigeria, the richest on percent control 85 percent of the wealth. All other countries are working hard to lower this, in Nigeria it is even worsening.”
“Nigeria is the only country where you have a low literacy rate of 51% and this is caused by the nonchalant attitude towards our educational system”.
Mr Obi further stated that Nigeria is the home of the highest number of poor people on Earth, and in every minute, six Nigerians fall into poverty.
Education
A growing economy invests at least 4% to 5% of the GDP in education.
Education is not an expense, it is an investment. The more you invest in education, the better your society.
The Chinese annual budget for education is 580 billion dollars.
In the last 10 years, Nigeria has budgeted about $4.5 billion for education, less than the amount South Africa spends annually on its education.
If the money spent on subsidy was invested in education and health, it would have impacted positively in our economy at large.
Unemployment
Talks about the economy is incomplete without addressing the issue of employment and unemployment.
Unemployment and under-employment are the greatest contributors to the challenges to the growth of our economy. When people don’t have jobs, we will have terrorists and criminals in society.
(Channelstv)
