Further to his consultations towards the 2023 presidential election, the former Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, has canvassed a new Nigeria where production, rather than sharing formula, would be the new song, insisting that there was, after all, nothing to share again in Nigeria. Obi made this call Friday while speaking to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stakeholders at Calabar and Ilorin.
Obi said the problem of the country was over-dependence on oil, which he described as diminishing assets, while neglecting other areas, like agriculture, which, if well harnessed, would earn more money even than oil. Using the USA as an example, Obi said that California which was the biggest economy in the USA exported knowledge and agricultural produce and was richer than Texas which had oil.
On the potential of agriculture to change the fortunes of a country, Obi said he painfully observed that Norway, with a landmass that was less than half of some states in Nigeria like Niger, exports over 100 Billion Dollars of agricultural produce as against less than 20 billion Dollars oil export by Nigeria annually.
Glorifying the achievements of Singapore in the area of service, Obi said that the diversification of the country was a gift and that in a prosperous Nigeria, a state as Calabar, like Singapore, should do well in the service industry, thus positioning herself as the epicenter of tourism in the country.
Responding on behalf of Cross River delegates, the Chairman, Chief Venatus Ikem, thanked Obi for his visit. Describing Obi as a movement, he said he came at the right time when the youth were searching for capable Nigerians to use as an arrowhead for them to take back their country.
