Peter Obi at Editors' Forum
At Professor Pat Utomi’s 68th birthday symposium, February 5, in Lagos, the Presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 presidential election, Peter Obi, made a brief remark. He was not the main speaker. But his remark resonated with the audience and with Nigerians.
As always, he took a pelt at corruption, Nigeria’s tormentor-in-chief. Of all the major presidential candidates, Obi stands out as the only one who kept hammering at the head of corruption as the bogey that must be dismantled if Nigeria must get out of the bind.
He told the audience that corruption must be deliberately unhinged from its vice grip on the nation. He listed three things that corruption kills. The first is entrepreneurship. Where there is corruption, entrepreneurship turns anaemic, broken and battered. “Any society where government officials are richer than her entrepreneurs, business men, manufacturers, that society will not survive.” Obi said.
Obi is not a theorist or one given to improbable reductionism. He’s a pragmatic hands-on man who has turned the nuts and bolts in entrepreneurship, both overseas and at home. As an entrepreneur operating in the United Kingdom years back, he told the audience how he used to get a letter from both the Prime Minister and the Queen for his about £5m annual turnover business. The letters are not to invite him for government contract but to acknowledge his efforts at building a strong economy and creating job and wealth in the UK. A letter of encouragement and approval of his striving. The same Obi has many businesses in Nigeria but never got any letter even from a local government chairman. This speaks volumes about the priorities in the two countries. One honours and respects entrepreneurship, the other scoffs at it, denigrates it and even oppress and suppress entrepreneurs with actions and policies that strap and strip the entrepreneur.
The second victim of corruption is professionalism. A situation where a barely literate thug who has assumed the hue of a politician will earn more or have access to wealth more than the professional does not augur well for professional practice and engagement. Obi recounted the story of a professor at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka who wished to switch job from his lecturing duty to an aide of a lawmaker who gets paid more than his barely over N400,000 monthly salary which is less than $300 by today’s value. This is not only disturbing but distressing.
For Obi, the third victim of corruption is hard work. He insists that Nigeria must engage her citizens on the basis of their talents, competences and capacities. Hard work is a fading fad in Nigeria, unfortunately. And it’s already tolling on the youths. Everybody wants to ‘blow’ or ‘hammer’ without grind, without enterprise or skill. This is evident in the growing wave of ritual killings for money, the rising allure of gambling (betting) and the monstrous incubus of Yahoo-plus-plus crushing whatever is left of the intellect in Nigerian youths. The street lingo is ‘education is a scam’, ‘who education help?’, among other clichés that mock at scholarship, intellectualism and hard work.
It’s been eight months into the new administration, all the red flags Obi warned the nation about are up and flourishing. Corruption is fiercely corroding the fabrics of the nation’s ethical landscape. Removal of fuel subsidy, good but poorly executed, and unrestrained floating of the naira have coalesced to render the economy comatose. Spiralling inflation, growing insecurity, poor cash receipts from export among a litany of other challenges are all by-products of corruption. Obi is right. Nigeria must deliberately dismantle the structures and boulders of corruption erected over the years. Obi’s speech at Utomi’s event was brief, its impact and bearing on the current travails of Nigerians are monumental.
Peter Obi has not changed. He still believes in a better Nigeria. The same way he spoke pre-election is the same manner he’s speaking post-election. He has not abandoned his vision for a greater Nigeria. He walks with the people, shares same space with the masses. During electioneering, many had wondered: If elected, can he find the political will to truly wear the epaulet of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and tame insecurity? How will he rebuild a badly broken nation, both structurally and economically? What will be his priority areas if he becomes President of Nigeria? There were many other questions and posers.
Now, after elections, Obi has not changed his views on how to rebuild the nation. He believes that a major step forward is to dismantle CORRUPTION. He’s the only one among Nigeria’s top politicians saying this with both passion and vigour. Nigerians believe him. Nigerians know that corruption is the chief demon afflicting the nation. They love Obi for this, for his lifestyle, humility, and high moral values. They love him for always standing with the people, for being unapologetically development-minded, for his pedigree, a history of excellence in private and public life. As governor, he changed the narrative of Anambra state in education and healthcare. He promoted indigenous production of goods and services and patronised local ventures. He showed no wantonness in public funds expenditure as is the manner of the average politician. He did not chase the people away with siren. He built infrastructure, developed human capital. Anambra suddenly became a leader in education in Nigeria. Many years out of office, Obi continues to support education nationwide.
Anywhere he goes, Nigerians chant his name. They love their Peter Obi. At the 2023 AFCON in Ivory Coast, the people’s love for Obi was writ large. He became the centre of attraction, a joy-giver, a charmer and a calmer of tensed nerves. The love was organic, unforced. He opted to watch the Super Eagles with Nigerian spectators. He merits a seat, indeed an exalted seat, in the VIP section, far removed from the crowd, the real people. At the VIP, he would enjoy the luxury of lavish entertainment and the comfort of the ambience. But he shunned all that, electing to stay with the people. Nigerians call him their leader. He’s their leader today and tomorrow. Such pure love from a wide spectrum of Nigerians has no Nigerian enjoyed in recent history.
Some persons infer that Obi is campaigning for 2027 election. Far from it. Obi is just being Obi. His modesty is neither episodic nor circumstantial. It’s a lifestyle. A modest lifestyle that bears no link to politics. His fiscal frugality and discipline did not start with politics or public office. It’s a lifestyle that has defined his personality, character and persona from childhood. A man exposed to riches early in life, he does not flaunt his wealth in vainglorious acquisitions and riotous reveling. Instead, he uses his wealth to water the garden of development. Whatever we make of him, his position on corruption should never be ignored. Nigeria must deliberately dismantle CORRUPTION and its structures. And it must start from leadership. Until this is done, entrepreneurship, professionalism and hard work will continue to receive the short end of the stick in a country in dire need of a kick.
