PARIS OLYMPIC GAMES
The Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, on Monday made a good showing at the Chatham House in the United Kingdom as he declared his resoluteness to make power a cardinal and primal agenda.
Obi said this he would do by first declaring an emergency in the nation’s comatose power sector.
“I am going to declare war on power and I will solve it. Anybody who stands on the way, so be it,” he told the audience amid applause.
Persecondnews recalls that the All Progressives Congress candidate, Bola Tinubu, had in December 2022 first featured on Chatham House programme.
Chatham House, also known as the Royal Institute of International Affairs, is an independent policy institute headquartered in London.
Established in 1920, about 103 years ago, Chatham House mission is to provide commentary on world events and offer solutions to global challenges.
Obi said: “We are going to turn around the power sector. Nigeria today generates 5,000 megawatts for 200 million people and South Africa, the second biggest in terms of economy on the continent, 60 million people, generates over 40,000 mega watts, yet, they have declared an emergency in the power sector.
“I have said it that anyone can generate up to 100,000 megawatts with our licence.
“If a country with 60 million population generating over 40,000MW is declaring emergency on power, what do you think somebody with two million people generating 5,000 to 6,000MW will do? War!
“You have heard them say we don’t have structure, that structure is the one that has dismantled Nigeria. We will destroy that structure of criminality, I assure you of it.”
On how to attract foreign investment into the country, Obi said he would put the necessary regulations in place that will create an enabling and conducive environment for foreign investors.
“Bringing back foreign investment is very simple. Foreign investor (relationship) is like bee and honey, all you need to do is create honey and bees will be all over the place.
“Foreign capital is scared of corruption, is scared of board policies, is scared of where there is no rule of law.
“You need to put a regulatory environment that makes it conducive, you need to secure it. That is at the heart of what Datti and I are offering.
“We will be that intangible asset of securing the country, making sure we govern through rule of law. We will fight corruption,” the LP candidate promised.
On the integrity of his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, Obi said Datti has a record as the only National Assembly member who refused to buy property off the government when it was offered to every National Assembly member.
“You can go and look at his record if you see anywhere he has compromised or put himself in a transactional position and I will stop running.
“I know how I approached him and I told him ‘I and you we owe it to save our people’. That is why we came together and we agreed to work as a team to solve this problem,” Persecondnews quotes Obi as saying.
Answering a question from the audience about the fear being expressed in some quarters that he might not get the support of the National Assembly if he is elected President as a party in minority, the former governor of Anambra State said he faced same situation as governor.
“Quite frankly, I’ve been through this as a governor. When I was elected and sworn in as a governor I had 30 House members not from my party (APGA). In fact, nobody from my party was involved.
“As long as you are pursuing what is right, everybody will go with you. The legislators want development and l’m prepared to bring development to the nation.
“It becomes a problem when you are pursuing transactional policies which will benefit you or you’re engaging in nepotism,” Obi stressed, promising to respect the Constitution and pursue inclusive governance.
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