*Says President Buhari Borrowed N11tn, nothing to show for it
Peter Obi, the vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the last general election, has urged president Buhari to take a cue from the presidents of India and South Africa, who had formed their cabinets soon after they assumed office.
Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa, had announced his list of cabinet members two weeks after winning re-election as President of the country, including the opposition his cabinet.
Obi, while speaking with journalists at the weekend in Lagos said, “These are serious leaders who are ready to move their countries forward. Imagine forming their cabinets within one week of being sworn in.
“Can you compare them with what is happening here in our country? I have always said it that for our country to move forward, it must change its current compass.”
Obi, who took a swipe at the leadership of the country, said Nigeria’s problem arose from years of bad leadership while adding that plenty of Nigerian leaders are bad role models.
He said, “What we have today in Nigeria is the cumulative effect of leadership failures. A leader must know his or her destination. Painfully, we have plenty of bad role models masquerading as leaders.
“Nigeria is in total mess because of too much borrowing caused by leadership failures. Our situation will get worse if we do not solve these problems urgently.
“There is a serious crisis in Nigeria because politics is now business and transactions. In fact, we have reduced our lives to transactions in Nigeria.
“Tell me, what is working in Nigeria today? A country where states owe billions and the federal government has borrowed over N11 trillion since coming into the office and there is nothing to show for all the borrowed funds. Are you not worried that over 21 million of our youths are not employed?
“Nigeria is gradually collapsing and unemployment is part of the disease killing Nigeria. All hands must be on deck to save our nation from these leadership failures.”
The former Anambra state governor tasked President Buhari to genuinely fight corruption by doing the right things as a leader and not being selective in his anti-corruption agenda.