Obi in Athens with some leaders
(L – R) Mr Peter Obi, Leader of the Labour Party, Nigeria; Andres Pastrana, Former President of Colombia and Adalberto Costa Junior, President of UNITA, Angola, at a Leadership Conference in Athens, Greece, yesterday.
Mr Peter Obi, Labour Party presidential candidate in Nigeria’s 2023 general elections, says security challenges bedeviling Africa are directly linked to p0verty, with over 50 per cent of the population multi-dimensionally p00r.
The former governor of Anambra was speaking on Saturday in Athens, Greece’s capital, at an international dialogue of global leaders that includes former Presidents and top government officials.
Obi listed unemployment, c0rruption, poverty, and inequality among the variables militating against security and peaceful co-existence in Africa.
“I joined global leaders, former presidents, prime ministers, serving and retired senior government officials, military chiefs, renowned academics, sports personalities on leadership dialogue focused on governance.
“This is particularly in the areas of security and the economy in today’s world, and the lessons for future leaders.
“In my brief presentation, I emphasised that as leaders, we must acknowledge the profound global and generational transformations confr0nting us,” he said.
He explained that despite vast human and material resources, there remained significant unmet needs in global governance.
He maintained that urgent attention must be given to enhancing collective security, lifting people out of p0verty, and reducing injustice and inequality in the society.
“In Africa, we face high levels of insecurity, alarming c0rruption, worsening p0verty, huge youth unemployment, and gross inequality.
“Non-state actors have now taken over the security in some African nations, furthermore, many African countries under-invest in critical areas of development, such as health and education.
“Future African leaders must take bold, accelerated, just, and transformative actions to achieve far-reaching, people-centered development,” he added.
He stressed that our leaders must confr0nt insecurity head-on and reassure citizens of the state’s ability to maintain security without being undermined by non-state actors.
He noted that c0rruption must be tackled with vigor, adding that leaders must invest in critical areas of development to improve health and education while addressing p0verty, unemployment, hùnger, and other pressing societal challenges.
He said that Nigeria has all the resources needed to move in this direction, and we remained committed to placing the nation on the right path.
Peoplesmind
