The candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the February 25 presidential election, Mr Peter Obi has said he believes Nigerians will still have a country they will be happy for if those in positions of authority do the right time.
Obi who spoke at a Chinua Achebe International Symposium and 10th Anniversary Memorial Celebration organised by the Chinua Achebe Foundation and African World Initiative, regretted that leadership is Nigeria’s problem 40 years after the late literary giant identified it as the nation’s problem.
“If Achebe was alive, he would have taken back the book. When he wrote it, there was no trouble. Now, there is real trouble in Nigeria,” Obi stated.
The former Anambra State governor in a statement by his media aide Emeka Obasi, said the problem of Nigeria is not just failure of leadership but the the unwillingness or inability of leaders to rise to the responsibility.
He recalled that “40 years ago, university professors in Nigeria earned a monthly salary of N1,200 when the naira exchanged at about $1.6. So, that was about $2,000. Then, brand new popular Corolla vehicles and Peugeot cars sold at between N4,000 and N5,000.
“It meant that any university professor could decide to save his three months’ salary to purchase a brand new of those brands of car.
“Today, such brands cost as much as N38 million …and the same professor earns N400,000 per month. It will take the same professor eight years of saving every dime earned to be able to purchase the same brand of vehicle.
“Forty years ago, a million naira was valued at $1.6 million. Today same amount is valued at just $1000.
“Even though our great father, Achebe would weep at the realities today, he was very right about leadership being the issue. Our country has been bedevilled by corruption; sealing public money has left us where we are today.
“People say that fighting corruption is not easy but it is very easy. If you are in charge and you are not stealing, your wife is not stealing, your children are not stealing, those working with you will not have any reason to steal and you must have reduced corruption by over 50 per cent.
“We can start thinking of a new Nigeria with competence, and capacity that is committed to fighting corruption. Is it possible to fight corruption? The answer is yes!”
Obi believes “There will be a country where leaders will be who they claim to be; a country where leaders will be of known identities, known parentage, where schools they claimed to have attended and certificates obtained would be accurately verified.”
