Mr Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra State and the Vice Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 election has decried the burgeoning cost of governance, warning that until the solution is found for high wastage in public funds at state and federal levels, the development will continue to elude the country.
Obi was addressing participants of Course 4 of the Strategic Management and Policy Course, at the Nigerian Army Resource Centre in Abuja during the week.
He told his audience, which comprises retired Generals and serving top brass from the Army, other security and paramilitary Agencies that growth and progress will not happen in Nigeria, for as long as the nation continue to maintain the quantum of wastes in public service.
Obi urged that leaders must strive to create public wealth, rather than focus on accumulating private wealth when in office. “Public wealth enriches everybody, but private wealth impoverishes the people and the nation,” he said.
According to Obi, the core of Nigeria’s challenges is the leadership of its political class. He stressed that until our leaders commit to good governance and responsible management of public resources, the right policies will not be put in place to serve the public good.
Earlier in the programme, the Director General of the NARC Maj Gen Garba Wahab (rtd.) welcomed Obi to the Centre for the 3rd year in a row, to address Participants on leadership and strategic management issues.
The retired general explained the goals of NARC, as well as the Centre’s reason for occasionally bringing in The Town to interact with Course Participants.
It was immediately after Obi was introduced by the Lead Faculty for the Strategic Management and Policy Course, Dr Okey Ikechukwu.
Obi who was introduced by Dr Okey Ikechukwu, lead Faculty for the Strategic Management and Policy Course, to a rousing welcome, held his audience spellbound with his experiences and management of state resources as governor of Anambra State.
He maintained: “Whether we agree or not, failure of leadership is taking a huge toll on us as a nation and it could be worse if we do not put the right and committed people in charge of the affairs of critical sectors of the economy.
Reflecting on his approach to governance Obi said that Education, health and provision of basic infrastructure were his main focus adding “I was able to record success because we planned our programs using a universally certified development formula”.
Obi described as disheartening the culture of owing pensioners while at the same time, wasting money on useless social projects noting that “owing people at the most difficult times when the opportunities are less is the worse thing to do to them”.
He reiterated his repeated public observation that borrowing is not bad in itself when it is for production. But that becomes worse when it’s for consumption; which is another way of mortgaging the future of the country.
