Former vice-presidential candidate Peter Obi on June 10, 2021, received six high-ranking members of the USA Consulate in Nigeria in his Onitsha residence, Anambra State.
The team visits Mr Obi routinely in Lagos or Onitsha to exchange ideas with him on events around the world, especially Africa.
A statement by Obi’s media office said, “It was a fruitful discussion on world economies and the need to improve education and health care delivery in Africa, as the critical components of economic development.”
“They see him as best-placed for such an interaction going by what he did as the Governor of Anambra State,” it added.
The statement disclosed that the discussion was gradually narrowed to Nigeria and the south-east, adding that “Obi insisted that Nigeria remained a great country that is temporarily set back by cumulative effects of bad leadership.”
The statement quoted Obi as telling his august visitors: “When we get the effective leadership we desire, the dynamics will change,” while calling on them to encourage equity and justice in Nigeria as possibly as they can.
On the situation in the south-east, Obi said it was actually wrong to narrow it to the region as the entire country is troubled.
He told the delegation: “The situation in the South-East is not as bad as it is portrayed. I can tell you that the actual cause of the crises are the leaders of this country, including myself. If the leaders have done well for the country, nobody will be agitating. We have so many youths that do not know where the next meal will come from. The solution will be by the leaders – all of us – reviving the economy, increasing support to education and promulgation of policies that will lift our people out of poverty.”
The team was led by the head of economic and political team of the USA Embassy in Nigeria, Brandon Hudspeth.
