The Labour Party presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi has said that the country’s challenges are surmountable with the right approach.
Admitting that Nigeria’s situation was critical, Obi said it was not hopeless as things could still change for the better.
In a series of tweets on Sunday, the former Anambra State governor, who has been on an extensive campaign tour of North America rallying Nigerians in the Diaspora, said that getting things done the right way would get the country out of its current mess.
He wrote: “I will say that while Nigeria’s situation is critical; it is not yet hopeless. That might be a cliché, but that is the reality. As I have always said, in the mission to rescue Nigeria, there is no tribe, religion, or class. Indeed, there can be no conscientious objector”.
Obi added: “We are challenged by high youth unemployment, which stands at 33.3 percent; 54 percent for the youth; and 20 million out-of-school-children. We must give this country back to the Nigerian youths. Half of our 200 million people are below the age of 30.
“The median age of this country stands at 17.9, showing that Nigeria has incredible potential to develop if she harnesses the demographic dividends intelligently.
“Harnessing our national youth strength must start with curbing the high youth unemployment and creating funding access to enable our youths become entrepreneurs and drivers of our Small and Medium Scale enterprises.
“We must fund education more robustly, by tweaking the UBEC (Universal Basic Education Commission) and TETFund (Tertiary Education Trust Fund)”.
He reiterated his stance on moving Nigeria from the path of consumption to production to salve the economy.
He wrote: “Economics is driven by the laws of efficiency. We must return to the path of production that results in production and wealth creation, and eventually results in massive employment and poverty alleviation”.
