Peter Obi, running mate to Atiku Abubakar and former Governor of Anambra State, has said it does appear as if no government exists in Nigeria.
It was perhaps Mr Obi’s most direct punch on the Muhammadu Buhari’s presidency since it was sworn in on May 29. He said; “it is inappropriate to say a government exists in any country where there is no security of lives and properties of the citizens.”
Mr. Obi stated this on Tuesday while speaking at The Platform, a programme by the Covenant Christian Centre to mark Nigeria’s 59th Independence Day. Other members of the panel were Prof. Charles Soludo, Dr. Anil Gupta and Bismarck Rewane. Soludo and Rewane are members of President Buhari’s Economic Advisory Committee.
Obi’s recipe is that Nigeria must do something drastically and quickly to put the present security challenges to check.
“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,” he said in a report by Channels TV.
Mr Obi explained that one of the major things needed in the country to grow its
economy is direct investment but questioned how secured the nation is for
investors.
He noted that security is a fundamental factor that attracts foreign investors.
According to Mr Obi, two major factors can trigger the growth of the nation and these are security and education, adding that if these are resolved, Nigeria’s economy would witness a major boom and unemployment and underemployment would become a thing of the past.
He expressed worries that Nigeria is borrowing heavily and this is not impacting on the development 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.
“Today Nigeria’s debt is about N28 trillion. 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.
“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.
He said investors need peace to enjoy their dividends. Nobody is going to invest in an unsecured place no matter how huge the profit margin.
“Our ten years budget in education is not up to South African’s one year budget in education.
Education
A growing economy invests at least 4% to 5% of the GDP in education.
Education is not an expenditure, it is an investment. The more you invest in education, the better your society.
The Chinese annual budget for education is $580 billion.
In the last 10 years, Nigeria has budgeted about $4.5bn 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.
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.