The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has said he would rather die than fail his supporters.
Obi made the statement in Lagos on Monday while speaking on the support from his supporters during his appearance at the Editors Forum, an initiative of the Nigerian Guild of Editors.
He said, “I am determined not to fail them. I would rather die than fail them. I am going to serve them. “I did not know many of them, but I vow not to disappoint them.”
The LP presidential candidate also said that most of the challenges facing Nigeria would be eliminated by the right leadership.
He said that Nigeria must replace sharing formula with production formula.
The former Governor of Anambra State said that the nation was going through many challenges mainly because it was a consuming instead of a producing country.
He listed the challenges to include unemployment, poverty, criminality and insecurity.
“We cannot have that number of people living in poverty and not have criminality, banditry and so on.
“We must remove sharing formula and replace it with the production formula,” he said
“The hope of this country is the vast uncultivated land, not that oil we are seeing.
He reiterated his resolve to move the country from consumption to production.
“My commitment is to put Nigeria into production. It is not acceptable that we cannot feed ourselves
“We must get the country to work; all it requires is the leadership that understands and can drive the process. I can do that, ” he said.
Speaking on his campaign funding, he said, “I cannot be talking about being transparent about managing public money without starting with my campaign.
“I do not pay people to work with me. Nobody will say he is funding Peter Obi’s campaign. I am funding it myself.
“All those things happening everywhere are just that people believe in our cause and give whatever it is from their little resources.
“I am encouraged, and I assure them that they are doing it for the right cause and I will never disappoint them,” he said.
On Nigeria’s debt profile, the former governor said, “Every nation borrows, individual businesses borrow all over the world.
“What is important is what we use the borrowed money to do. If you borrow for consumption, that is where we have a problem.”
He said that borrowed money should be invested well to increase the country’s gross domestic product and per capita income.
“I won’t say I will not borrow but I will only borrow for investment and I will explain to Nigerians the need for the borrowing,” he added.
Obi promised to reduce the nation’s debt burden and pledged to eliminate all waste and rascality, if elected.
He called on Nigerians to elect their next president based on character, integrity competence, capacity and commitment.
On power supply, the LP candidate said that adequate power generation and distribution were achievable.
“We will support those generating power and do everything possible on distribution.
“I can tell you that within years, we will move from where we are, to 20,000 megawatts, because we need it for production,” he said.
Ifunanya Ikueze is an Engineer, Safety Professional, Writer, Investor, Entrepreneur and Educator.
