Peter Obi, the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general election, on Saturday, emphasized the need for bold and transformative leadership to tackle Africa’s pressing challenges.
He made this call in an address at an international dialogue of global leaders in Athens, Greece.
Obi stressed that future African leaders must prioritize people-centered development, confronting insecurity, corruption, and poverty head-on.
“In Africa, we face high levels of insecurity, alarming corruption, worsening poverty, huge youth unemployment, and gross inequality,” Obi noted. Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, for instance, have over 60% of their populations living in poverty, with unacceptable levels of inequality.
“Future African leaders must take bold, accelerated, just, and transformative actions to achieve far-reaching, people-centred development.
“They must confront insecurity head-on and reassure citizens of the state’s ability to maintain security without being undermined by non-state actors. Corruption must be tackled with vigour.
“Leaders must invest in critical areas of development to improve health and education while addressing poverty, unemployment, hunger, and other pressing societal challenges.
“Urgent attention must be given to enhancing collective security, lifting people out of poverty, and reducing injustice and inequality in society.”
The situation is dire, with non-state actors now controlling security in some African nations, he claimed.
“In Africa, we face high levels of insecurity, alarming corruption, worsening poverty, huge youth unemployment, and gross inequality.
“Nigeria and Congo both have over 60% of their populations living in poverty and suffer from unacceptable levels of inequality. Non-state actors have now taken over the security in some African nations.”
Obi’s remarks come at a time when Africa is facing significant development challenges. According to the World Bank, around 700 million people live in extreme poverty, with 712 million people globally living on less than $2.15 a day.
The COVID-19 pandemic has reversed progress in poverty reduction, with an additional 198 million people likely to have entered extreme poverty.
A Way Forward
To address these challenges, Obi advocated for bold, accelerated, just, and transformative actions. This includes investing in critical areas of development, enhancing collective security, lifting people out of poverty, and reducing injustice and inequality.
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