Peter Obi, who ran for president under the Labour Party in 2023, recently spoke out about Nigeria's struggles, calling the country a "crime scene" that desperately needs fixing. Speaking in Abuja on Tuesday, June 10, Obi expressed deep sadness over the rising insecurity and hardship Nigerians face. He highlighted a troubling reality: even though Nigeria isn't officially at war, many citizens are living like refugees both inside and outside the country. "Today in Nigeria, we’re not officially at war, yet Nigerians are living in IDP camps in their own country. Nigerians are refugees in Chad, in Cameroon. And the only reason is because we don’t have a government that cares for them,” he stated.
The former governor of Anambra State urged Nigerians to actively work together to "dismantle this crime scene called a country." He warned that the current way things are going isn't sustainable and is actually quite dangerous. Obi cautioned that some people are celebrating while the country is falling apart, stressing that when things finally collapse, everyone, rich or poor, will be affected. He drew parallels to places like Beirut and Afghanistan, reminding everyone that "crisis does not discriminate.”
Obi also criticized the government's priorities, pointing out that public money is being spent on renovating offices and throwing parties, while serious issues like maternal mortality and out-of-school children are neglected. He lamented that "one woman dies every seven minutes in Nigeria during childbirth," a grim statistic he wants to change.
According to Obi, many of Nigeria's problems come down to a lack of good leadership and not creating real value. He argued that when leaders and businesses hoard money without actually producing anything useful, they're just making poverty worse. He believes a healthy economy needs to be built on real exchanges of value.
Finally, Obi touched on the issue of currency devaluation. While he supports removing fuel subsidies, he insisted that corruption must be eliminated first. He believes that if confidence is built in the market and corruption is cleaned up, the naira will become stable. He pointed to Ghana and Angola as examples where this has happened, questioning why Nigeria can't do the same.
