Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra state, says
restructuring will boost the nation’s economy and end insecurity.
The former governor spoke on ”restructuring, security challenges
and development” at the fourth Adada public lecture organised by the
association of Nsukka professors (ANP) at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka
(UNN) on Tuesday.
According to NAN, Obi said it is unfortunate that governors
depend on oil revenue but through restructuring, governors will look inwards to
make their states productive.
He said state, local and community police will also be set
up to tackle criminality within their areas.
“It is unfortunate that some governors believe in going to
Abuja monthly to get federal allocation from proceeds of oil,” he said.
“They have forgotten the price of oil in the international
market has depreciated and will continue to depreciate.
“No developed country in the world depends on crude oil but
they invest in their children, agriculture and encourage small and medium
enterprises by giving out soft loans and other incentives.
“There is urgent need to restructure the country for the
economy to grow to desired level.”
He said Nigerians who do not believe in restructuring should
stop misleading others by claiming it is a deliberate plan to divide the
country.
“Rather, it should be seen as a move to build the ailing
economy and restore adequate security in the country,” he said.
The former governor said restructuring will also help to
ensure adequate funding of primary and post-primary schools as well as higher
institutions.
“We should invest in
our children’s education, which is greater than any price of crude oil in
the international market,” he said.
“Restructuring the country will bring out the comparative
advantage of every state and our natural resources that are lying waste will be
fully harnessed to boost state economy.”
Making an example of the Netherlands, Obi said restructuring
will enable states to make robust investment in agriculture, achieve food
security and create more employment opportunities.
“In the 1960s and 1970s, agriculture was the major foreign
exchange earner for the country,” he said.
“In the north, we had
groundnut pyramid, in the west we had cocoa and the east had palm oil and
Nigeria was among the best economies in the world.
“Today, the Netherlands as a country uses its exports from
agricultural products and flowers to get billions of dollars in foreign
exchange to sustain its economy.”
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com