Mr. Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, attacked President Bola Tinubu’s administration on Thursday, saying that he had not done nearly enough to solve the nation’s “worsening” political, economic, and security issues during the past 18 months.
Obi appealed for the administration to take “vigorous, positive actions” to help Nigerians, who he claimed were growing increasingly hopeless.
In a 2025 address headlined “Nigeria Needs Selfless And Exemplary Leadership,” the former governor of Anambra State shared his thoughts on the situation under the Tinubu administration in Abuja.
Despite the government’s denials and assertions of progress in several areas of human endeavor, our nation’s political, economic, and security conditions are getting worse every day.
It is evident that our country’s problems are getting worse. The fortunes of our country are clearly in reverse. Our national indices present a troubling picture since they are unmistakably a reflection of our deterioration. With more than 100 million people living in extreme poverty and more than 150 million in multidimensional poverty, Nigeria continues to be one of the world’s poverty capitals, he said.
Obi provided more data to support his claim, stating that Nigeria’s economy had fallen from being the biggest in Africa in the previous 18 months, from having a GDP of $574 billion and a per capita income of almost $3,500 in 2014, “to now ranking fourth on the continent.”
With a per capita income of barely $1,000, our current GDP, which stands at about $200 billion, is less than 50% of what it was ten years ago,” he continued. With many towns and families uprooted from their homes and now residing in IDP camps, Nigeria continues to rank among the world’s most unstable and least peaceful countries.
In terms of peace, Nigeria is ranked 143rd out of 163 countries by the Global Peace Index (GPI), which indicates a significant degree of hardship.
Nigeria is now among the world’s most hungry nations due to the widespread food insecurity that has become the new norm.
Nowadays, Nigerians with middle-class jobs and steady jobs spend almost all of their earnings on food, and some even borrow money simply to eat. Even worse is the situation for people who are marginalized, such as low-income individuals and the unemployed.
However, he pointed out that while the administration increased the minimum wage for public sector workers to N70,000, this would not significantly improve purchasing power as hunger continued to take lives.
Not even half a bag of beans or a bag of rice may be purchased with the recently approved N70,000 minimum wage. Because of this, a large portion of Nigerians now depend on palliative care and philanthropic donations, and many go to bed hungry. Unfortunately, this has recently resulted in a number of preventable deaths.
Nigeria has a critical degree of hunger and food insecurity, as evidenced by its placement of 110th out of 127 nations on the 2024 Global Hunger Index. As one of the nations with the greatest number of people without access to power, we have earned the dubious reputation, he remarked.
The LP candidate attacked the government for its deteriorating performance in electricity supply, corruption, and indebtedness, claiming that Nigeria had become a “generator country” and that the National Grid had collapsed “12 times in 12 months.”
He continued by saying that corruption, official wrongdoing, fiscal irresponsibility, and the mishandling of public funds are all on the rise in our nation and are affecting every branch of government. Nepotism and disrespect for due process, the rule of law, and the Constitution have also grown commonplace.
From over N15 trillion in 2015 to N100 trillion now, our national debt has skyrocketed. Under the present administration, this significant growth has taken place in the last 18 months. Paradoxically, the majority of these borrowings are used on non-regenerative projects and programs, leaving little to no real developmental assets to repay the debt.
Businesses are failing, manufacturing industries are barely surviving, and inflation is still at an all-time high, all of which add to the already high unemployment rate.
“We hold periodic elections that are no longer genuine.” There are obvious problems with our electoral procedures, such as a lack of legitimacy and openness. Nigeria is a democratic nation, but the electoral procedures are far from up to par, and the votes of the populace are frequently not counted.
While making recommendations to the administration, Obi claimed that “selfless and exemplary leadership across the three arms and tiers of government,” starting at the top where Mr. President is in charge, is the source of the answers.
“Since the ultimate responsibility lies with Mr President, I will direct my attention to him,” Obi stated, speaking directly to Tinubu.Mr. President, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s eloquent statement, “We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now,” perfectly captures Nigeria today. Apathy or complacency are not appropriate at this moment. Now is the moment for proactive and forceful action.
We all love Nigeria and want to see it grow, therefore I’d like to recommend a few things that I myself would have done better. Now is the moment to face our country’s issues head-on, with courage, determination, and urgency.
Obi’s top recommendation was for the administration to immediately reduce the cost of governance and reroute funds to poverty alleviation, health, education, and security.
He demanded that borrowings be linked to “regenerative investments and visible, productive assets that benefit the nation,” in addition to fighting corruption and allowing the public to examine government records.
Obi also encouraged Mr. President to reduce his abroad travels in order to visit Nigeria more frequently and gain firsthand knowledge of the country’s condition of decline.
“Mr. President, it has been reported that you have taken more than 30 publicly documented foreign trips during the roughly 180 days that you have been in office, or more than 30% of the total. I kindly request that you set aside at least 20% of 2025, or about 72 days, to spend two days in each of Nigeria’s 36 states. Such visits would allow you, as President, to have a deeper understanding of the severe security and economic conditions that exist throughout the nation.
Additionally, it’s time for you to stop by one of our national hospitals. For instance, think about having your next medical test performed in one of our Regional Federal Medical Centers or National Hospitals, such the FMC in Sokoto, Birnin Kebbi, Calabar, Umuahia, or Akure, among others. This will enable you to evaluate the condition of the medical facilities that Nigerians have access to. Additionally, you will gain a better understanding of the state of our clinics and hospitals, which will allow you decide how best to improve and streamline them.
He advised the President to “try to travel by road to observe the condition of most highways.”
Obi proposed, “You can travel modest distances, like from Benin in Edo State to Warri in Delta State or from Calabar in Cross River State to Uyo in Akwa Ibom State, which is less than 100 kilometers away. When I was governor of Anambra State, I remember driving President Olusegun Obasanjo from Awka to Onitsha on a federal route.
He approved the Anambra State government’s rebuilding of a portion of the road right away as a result of the trip, and the federal government later reimbursed them. Such deeds are of great worth.
It’s crucial to familiarize oneself with the infrastructure, facilities, and amenities offered by our tertiary institutions, where our students and future leaders are being trained, through both scheduled and unplanned visits.
These visits will yield important information about what is required to maintain the educational system and whether the Tertiary Education Trust Fund’s (TETFund) resources are being used as efficiently as possible. “I have seen the facilities myself, and I assure you of my intervention,” President Shagari said during a visit to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, when I was a student there. After it, institutional facilities saw a major improvement.
“As Commander-in-Chief, visit our military formations and security agencies, particularly while they are conducting field operations, and offer them support for operational efficiency and assurances that will boost their morale.” Remind them that you will always look out for them and their families.
Many Nigerians are “exiles” and “refugees” within their own nation, Mr. President. Visit several IDP camps and reassure the Nigerians that you are making every effort to bring peace and normalcy back to the nation and that they would soon be able to return to their communities.
Nigeria is not a country ravaged by conflict. One concerning indicator is the growth in IDP camps. Since you are no longer Lagos State’s governor in your capacity as president, think about taking your vacations somewhere in the nation.