The Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has said that his government will dismantle inefficiency in governance in Nigeria and declared that “there will be no sacred cows”.
Obi who was a guest of Chatham House, the famous British international Policy institute, said with him and Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed in charge of governance, they will dismantle inefficiency and eliminate transactional policies that breed corruption in government.
Obi, during the chat monitored in Abuja, took over 15 questions from the audience after presenting a paper on various sectors.
He said they will dismantle the structure of criminality which they have been using to hold the country.
“There will be no sacred cow,” Obi said of what will happen under the Obi-Datti administration.
The Labour Party Presidential candidate also said: “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 intends to cope with possibly having a National Assembly that may 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 is to do the right thing, avoid nepotism and transactional policies because even the parliamentarians desire good governance.
Responding to a question on the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) and why he has not condemned them, Obi said that for him and many other reasonable Nigerians including Igbos, the Biafra war ended 53 years ago. But he is not oblivious of the agitators’ demands for justice.
According to him, “we are going to look into the issue of justice and marginalization in 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 intends to do to attract investors to bee and honey, he will create enabling environment where rule of law thrives and will avoid any transactional policies which breed corruption and weaken governance.
On how to navigate the so-called ‘big boys’ to be able to see through his beautiful policies if elected, the LP standard bearer said the challenge will be surmounted as there will be no sacred cow.
Nigerian Youths To Present Demands To Presidential Candidates
Meanwhile, ahead of the 2023 presidential election, the Nigerians Youth under the auspices of Youth Awake Now (YAN) said it will present a charter of demands to all the presidential candidates for them to work with and ensure that the youth benefits from the central government when a new president is elected.
YAN comprises Arewa youth leaders, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth leaders, Afeinifere youth leaders, UAW youth leaders, NYCN leaders, NANS youth leaders, NAPs leaders, NYC leaders, and NYP leaders.
Reading from a communiqué after their meeting, the spokesperson of the YAN, Barrister Pereotubo Roland, yesterday explained that the charter of demands from Nigerian youth will be presented to the aspirants after which a memorandum of agreement.
He said, “We, the Nigerian Youths believe strongly that our diversity is our pride and living in peace should be above all.
“We, therefore, express our commitment to work together to build a better Nigeria, amidst our various ethnoreligious, political, and cultural diversities.
“With this communique, we commit ourselves to foster intercultural dialogue and relations across all leaders regardless of the party in Nigeria and also call on Every Nigerian Youth to be enjoined to #YAN freely expressing their demands to their preferred candidate using the YAN platform as a common tool to drive Socio-Economic growth and sustainability for a better future.
“The content endorsed as well as that of the Nigerian Youths will be put together and a major Demand Charter from the Nigerian youth will be presented to the aspirants after which a memorandum of agreement will be executed with each of the presidential aspirants. Enough Enough! We are not going to continue to take this again.”
On his part, the Executive Chairman of the YAN, Festus Uchenna explained that no time is late saying that we have been making consultations across the country for the past six months.
