I'm Not Desperate To Be President But Desperate To See Nigeria Work — Peter Obi

Peter Obi

Presidential hopeful,  Peter Obi has said he is not desperate to be president but wants to see the country work.

The two-term governor of Anambra State and former vice presidential candidate of the PDP in the 2019 general elections, stated this on Wednesday when he paid a courtesy visit to Bayelsa State Governor Duoye Diri in Yenagoa.

Obi said Nigeria is a great country with untapped potentialities, noting that he is desperate to move the nation away from a consumption economy to a productive one.

The presidential aspirant, who reeled out the statistics of agricultural value chain to Nigeria’s economy as against oil revenue, decried the level of neglect of food production in the country.

Obi asserted that if elected Nigeria’s president, he would end the current oil revenue sharing formula and introduce a production formula, particularly in agriculture and ICT.

He said the $18bn Nigeria gets from oil monthly cannot be compared to Facebook or Twitter, which was just sold for $44bn.

“I am aspiring to lead this country. For me, it is not a desperate aspiration but I am desperate to see Nigeria work.

“This is a great country and I have a simple thing to do. I want to move it from consumption to a productive country. It is not working because it is not a productive country.

“We cannot see our children, millions of young people that are smart and intelligent stay at home, doing nothing and we keep quiet,” he said.

Obi also condemned the incessant borrowing under the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government, saying that in four years, the country had borrowed almost $100bn with nothing to show for it.

In his remarks, Diri said Obi proved his worth while he served as Governor of Anambra, especially when he saved and handed over N75bn to his successor.