Leadnaija
Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, in the 2023 election, Mr. Peter Obi, has said he is not desperate to become president of Nigeria.
Obi, a former governor of Anambra state, spoke at the fourth convocation ceremony of Nexford University, a US-based online school.
The presidential candidate decried the state of leadership in the country, describing it as “an imposition on the people”.Tap Here To Read Full Details
Obi urged the graduating students to embrace the spirit of servitude so as to lead effectively and “ignite the needed change”.
He added that he is “desperate to see the country work”.
“All of these that we are saying is for you to use it and ignite that change and support. It is not for you to start saying ‘I want to be in charge. I want to do this. I want to do that’,” he said.
“When people say I am desperate I say ‘No’. I am not desperate to be Nigeria’s president’. I am desperate to see Nigeria work because it can work.”
He said Nigerian youths must help to reignite the “right leadership that the country requires for development”.
“James Robinson, one of the Nobel laureates in economics, last year said it openly that Nigeria is a country that knows what to do to prosper and refuses to do it,” Obi added.
“How can you allow drivers and people who are at their destinations to drive you? You will lose. They have passed their destinations. They have passed their time.
“That is what you should help to reignite. Use what you have henceforth to help us change the society. Do not go and be part of this. You are a victim of Nigeria. Because our age and the one before refused to do what is right and we are suffering for it.”
Speaking on education, Obi noted that online universities are a critical alternative to traditional higher education institutions in the country.
He said countries like Pakistan, India, and Turkey have seen significant success by leveraging online education, with some of their universities enrolling more students than all Nigerian universities combined.
He explained that online education is the next stage of development, stressing that a nation’s educational level directly correlates with its overall development.
“It (online education) is very critical. I give you an example, because of not having online education you have countries like Pakistan, India, and Turkey where they have universities that have more students than all our universities put together. And you could see the critical impact of it. So, it is the next stage,” Obi said.
“We need to massively educate the people because education is one most important tools of development. It has been proven that the more educated a country is the more developed. So, whatever you can do to accelerate that, it is critical.
“We have to combine all of them. This is a huge country. I have just given you an example, countries that we have more population than or similar population are doing this.”
He also highlighted the need for leadership with compassion to support these educational initiatives.
“Leadership is the most important; you have to have the right character and compassion. You have to care about others to be able to lead.
”If something is happening today, we do not have people who care about the society. It is about selfish interest.”
