Mr. Peter Obi, a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) presidential aspirant, on Friday pledged to transform Nigeria from a consumer nation to a productive nation if elected president in 2023.

 

He made the pledge while addressing Kebbi State PDP Executive Committee and delegates at the party secretariat in Birnin Kebbi, the state capital.

 

Obi, erstwhile governor of Anambra, advised the delegates to look beyond the now, adding that they should not think of themselves, instead they should think of the future of the country.

 

The aspirant said: “I want all delegates to do the right thing to ensure a brighter future for our country by electing a credible person that has the competence and the capacity to fix this country. We need somebody who will move this country from a sharing and consumption nation to one that produces.

 

On what he had differently from other aspirants, Obi said he was a “trader” with good and excellent educational background, who created jobs for Nigeria’s teeming unemployed youths.

 

“What you need to do is to look at my background in private and public life. I have created employment opportunities for the unemployed, I have created wealth for all, I am the only politician who left a huge amount of money in government coffers when I left office as a governor,” he said.

 

On women, Obi observed that the more investment in women, the more development was created, assuring that women were the engine of the development of any nation.

 

“When you develop a woman you develop a nation, when you give a woman money and develop a business for a woman, you cater for her and her family,” he noted.

 

He said that Nigeria as a nation had everything but the only thing that had affected her was successive leadership failures.

 

He assured the people that with encouragement from the government, Nigerians had the capacity to grow because they were not lazy people.

 

The presidential aspirant promised to do the needful so that the security challenges bedeviling the nation could be tackled.

 

Responding, the PDP Chairman in Kebbi, Alhaji Usman Bello-Suru, thanked Obi for the visit and assured him of level-playing ground in the selection process.

 

Bello-Suru, who was represented by his deputy, Alhaji Lawal Muhammad-Wasagu, assured the aspirant that PDP was a party that believed in quality and credible aspirants that would take Nigeria to the promised land.