I’ll run a government driven by Youths and Women, Obi assures in Port Harcourt
The Labour Party Presidential candidate, Peter Obi said at a town Hall meeting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State Capital on Thursday that his administration if elected will be driven by youths and women mostly.
This Obi said does not mean the old people will not be there but they will be mostly advisers and we will respect them, but the youths will spearhead the government.
“This government is going to be youth and women government. The old people will be there as advisers, they will guide us, we will respect them but the youth will Spear head it”
Obi told a crowded Town Hall meeting made up of largely youths and students that he will increase education funding and grant autonomy to the Universities, also grant loans to the students and ensure that strikes in Education sector is nipped in the bud finally.
“A government that refused to recognise the impact of education to developement is doomed” he said
He reiterated what is contained in his manifesto that education will be well funded, “I said we will fund education, we will increase the funding. We will invest in education because the greatest investment any society can do is education. The more educated a society is the more developed they are.
LP flag bearer regretted that we continue to talk about physical infrastructure in this country when we have not built the human infrastructure, which is the education. “So we will fund education at tertiary level through collaborations, government will bring the money and we can also get some corporations to support and we will give students loan. University should be able to manage their resources, so they don’t have to shut down.
Obi noted that in Nigeria University system as it stands today “So many things are not adding up but I will sit down with ASUU and we will discuss.
He assured the cheering crowd of mostly students “I will not allow them to make you to stay 8 years for a 5 years course. 5 years will be 5 years. If I have a problem with ASUU it is between me and them. You shouldn’t suffer for our disagreement.
He said that as President he will participate in the running of the Universities: “I assure you that when i become president I will visit at least 10 university in a year. I visited over 500 secondary schools when I was a governor in Anambra. And all their school prefects have my phone number and I deal with them directly.”
He said that if elected it means the system will work because that will be the reason for electing me “to make universities to work, so I am going to visit the universities and make them to work.”
Obi also met with the Rivers state traditional rulers in their chamber where he was warmly received by the their chairman, His Majesty, King Dsndedon Douglas Jaja, the Amanyanbo of Opobo.
He was accompanied by leadership of the party and the campaign council.
[22/12, 19:04] Emeka Duru: *Nigeria is a failed state but I will turn it around- Peter Obi*
The Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi has said that Nigeria is a failed state today but he and his running mate are in the race for the Presidency to rescue and turn it around.
Obi told a large crowd of supporters in Port Harcourt, Rivers state that he used transforming and turning around failed businesses and if elected by February 25, 2023 he and Yusuf Datti Ahmad will turn Nigeria around.
“Datti Ahmed and I are not in this business for anything, we are committed to building, a new Nigeria that is possible. Hold us responsible, we are prepared for the job.”
In a response to a question from an Obidient, he said, “Somebody asked me today, with all these monies they have stolen how would you transform Nigeria, and I said, I have turned around failed businesses; Nigeria is a failed country , give it to us we will turn it around. We want Nigerians to hold us responsible for turning around this country.
“I am not looking for anything. I have been a governor for 8 years. I didn’t owe salary or gratuity or pension, but I left 150 million dollars and 30 billion naira. Go to Anambra State, if you see one piece of land allocated to Peter Obi, the wife or anybody close to me, I will stop running”
Obi reiterated his earlier position that next year’s election would not be on my turn, tribe or religion but to be based on the character we can trust, who has capacity, and competence.
The LP candidate told the jubilant crowd that his desire is, “to build a society where people will be secured, where a child of nobody will be able to be president of this country.
According to the former Anambra state Governor, time is now to change this country, “We must vote for someone with competence, someone with capacity and capability. This job is a job for people with physical and mental energy, not retirement home”
The National Chairman of the Labour Party, Bar Julius Abure who also addressed the rally said that 2023 Presidential election offers Nigerians the opportunity and time “to recover our country from those who have put us in poverty, in hunger and unemployment. Therefore, the choice we must make in 2023 is Labour Party and Peter Obi.
He reminded Nigerians that why the country has failed and why Nigerians have been suffering is because, “we have been voting for the wrong people. It is now time for us to vote the right people who will recover this country again”
The high points of the well attended rally was the performance of the musical sensation, P-Square, who were on hand to entertain the crowd of supporters and Obidient members who thronged Yakubu Gowon stadium for the flag-off campaign.