Former vice presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has commended Catholic bishops for ‘significantly drawing national and global attention’ to Nigeria’s worsening security challenges.
Mr Obi spoke during the weekend on the sidelines of an international business conference organised by the Nigeria, America Business Forum (NABF) in the USA.
He said the peaceful protest by the bishops showed their patriotism and concern for the challenging situation in the country.
The former Anambra State governor, according to a statement from his media office late Monday, charged other critical stakeholders in the country to join the bishops in bringing to attention the insecurity situation in Nigeria for necessary action.
Obi, who was the keynote speaker at the well-attended forum, said that “what Nigeria desperately needs now is investment, especially Foreign Direct investment, to reboot her declining economy and create employment for her teeming unemployed youths. But nobody will be attracted to invest in an unsecured or lawless environment.”
He said that the rate of unemployment in the country was frightening, noting that any nation unable to engage its teeming educated youths would surely have issues with social vices like crimes and criminalities.
Obi regretted that “Ghana whose entire population is less than 20% of our population is attracting more investment and attention than Nigeria with all its abundant capital and material resources.”
He said that all the attendees he spoke to personally had one or two worries – security/law and order.
Obi urged the Nigerian government to ‘aggressively’ tackle the situation.
The conference, themed ‘Improving Nigeria’s Economy: Challenges and Opportunities’ attracted top Nigerian professionals and entrepreneurs residing in the US. Others included state governors, top government officials, diplomats, captains of industry and the chairperson of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa.
