Nigeria needs a new lease of life, By Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed

Nigeria is a challenged country. This is very clear. Due to changes in the quality of life and development, our country is no longer sustainable.

Leadership lies at the heart of the problem. While our country continues to face several natural disasters, leadership issues and limitations have brought Nigeria to its knees.

Moving Nigeria forward and meeting its needs now and in the medium and long term, requires a complete paradigm shift that must begin with purposeful and transformative leadership; leadership that can think disruptively, inside and outside the box.

Today, Nigeria sits at the bottom of the global development index. Insecurity is at an all-time high. Our economy is in bad shape. Naira in free fall. The price of goods and services increases. This is even when the family income is decreasing, and the job is paying well. Our country is deeply in debt. Capital flights from Nigeria are reported to be at 82%. A significant portion of our revenue goes to debt service. The government is barely able to meet its legal obligations.

The staff union of academic and medical institutions started a paralyzing strike. Currently, 18.5 million children are out of school. Unemployment is at 35%. National cohesion and resilience are at their lowest point. The electricity supply remains as epileptic and unreliable as it has been for decades.

Consequently, Nigerians are hungry, angry and tired of bad leadership. The choice of whether to continue this trajectory or find a new path is no longer a debate.

Nigeria needs an enabling environment for domestic and foreign investors to be incentivized and protected. Overcoming insecurity should no longer be a cliché. It needs consistency. This requires a strong and reformed federal and state police. And indeed genuine grievances must be addressed without compromising national sovereignty and security. Now is the time for the country to deal with criminality seriously, in the sphere of government and outside.

There is a clear correlation between poor and disenfranchised communities and those who return to criminality. National remediation has become imperative. A parallel track requires a firm reinvigoration of the Nigerian economy to ensure people are lifted out of poverty.

Nigeria is also facing a combination of circumstances that undermines the needs of its governance. The challenge is not insurmountable. Instead, they require a curated leadership and governance response. The era of deprivation, insecurity, poverty, visceral violence and bloodshed must end. But the challenge will not be solved if the government remains inactive and resigned to this stark reality.

It is time to urgently rescue Nigeria from implosion. People can always pursue personal, partisan and group interests. But in times of serious challenges, true patriots must transcend personal interests and sectional considerations to build a sustainable society for the national interest. The main mission, as we see it, is to secure, unite and make Nigeria productive again. We must invest in the development of human capital to match what we need in today’s technology-driven 21St century economy.

Never in the history of Nigeria has it been so divided. There is a serious trust deficit between Nigeria’s leadership and the national people. Furthermore, our society is now very, even insidiously, polarized. Our country getting true citizenship should be a priority for every good Nigerian.

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This means that alongside the government’s responsibility to protect and ensure the security of life and property, a united Nigeria must be the front burner of our national discourse. We have found no better way to unite Nigerians than for leaders to instill confidence and trust of the people in their leaders. Nigerians need a leader they can trust.

Nigeria’s progress requires a twin-tracked approach. It requires food self-sufficiency and better electricity supply. Beyond oil, Nigeria needs to turn the fertile land of the North into new oil. We need to get our industry running optimally again. We need to generate 4,000 megawatts of electricity every year for the next decade. When we have accomplished these goals, we will create job opportunities that will reduce crime.

Conventional wisdom suggests that in life, we have to make a choice: take a chance, or our life will not change. Nigerians must make tough choices with a view to ensuring that in the new democracy, the government promotes the unfettered rule of law. We must ensure that governance today is inclusive, cost-effective, transformative, and less transactional. We must ensure that national investment is transparent and regenerative. It is very important that we shift from consumption to production. This must be the new national mindset.

Securing, uniting and making Nigeria productive requires a steady and reliable hand. That assurance is the desire of all Nigerians. In fact, beyond their desire, they ask for it too much. From our position, these demands are now important. Nigeria needs new life. We are ready to deliver.

Peter Obi and Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed are the presidential and vice presidential candidates, respectively, from the Nigerian Labor Party.