2023: Peter Obi's Unforgivable Blunders on Nigerian Economy, Youths Exposed
Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), has spoken so much about his work plan for Nigeria if he emerges victorious during the 2023 elections.
The former governor of Anambra state seems to have an in-depth knowledge of how to fix the country's economy through a sustained chain of production and exportation.
Source: UGC
Like every sensible Nigerian citizen, Obi is certain that this will bring the nation to its glory days when it was evidently regarded as the giant of Africa.
However, some remarks by Obi in recent times have put his knowledge of Nigeria's economy in question as regards records of Nigeria's exportation of goods and services.
1. Obi understates Nigeria's exports
During an Arise TV interview on Wednesday, July 6, the southeast politician and businessman stated that the country exported below $30 billion of goods and services in 2021 and that it is underperforming in comparison to a smaller African nation like Morocco.
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In his argument, Obi claimed that Nigeria is “not a producing country”, adding that it has a weak export base, resulting in the scarcity of the American dollar within its confines.
He was quoted to have said in two separate interviews:
“Morocco is about 36 million, their export last year was over 50 billion dollars. In our own [exports] with oil included, it's under 30 billion [dollars] and we’re 200 million. Morocco didn’t export any oil.
“Nigeria is a country with 923,000 square kilometres of land, and a population of 200 million people. God blessed us with oil and other resources. We have over 100 million people living in poverty.
“But to show that we are not a producing country, last year, our total export including oil was less than 30 billion dollars, that is why we can’t find dollars today.”
But an investigation by an international news media, AFP, has revealed that Obi's argument is not true.
A fact-check by the news media discovered that for more than 10 years, Nigeria's yearly exports have exceeded $30 billion.
The investigation, using data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), found that the country’s total exports were worth $46.69 billion in 2021, which is a higher figure than the $35.9 billion recorded in 2020.
Below is the data collected from the CBN for Nigeria's export in 2021:
Source: UGC
In fact, the publication noted that Nigeria’s annual exports have remained above the $30 billion mark since 2008.
Moreover, a dataset from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) exposes a major faultline in Obi's argument.
The NBS has it that Nigeria’s exports were valued at N18.9 trillion in 2021, (that is, $47.3 billion).
2. Obi misrepresents number of Nigerians playing in NBA
Needless to say, the majority of Obi's supporters in Nigeria are youths who have had enough of bad governance and wanton corruption for more than two decades.
And the LP's flagbearer is pledging to make youth development one of the priorities of his administration if the coming presidential election favours him.
But he recently made another blunder by erroneously generalising that about two-thirds of players in the American National Basketball Association (NBA) are Nigerian youths.
He said:
“If you go into American NBA, out of 150 players, almost 100 are Nigerians."
The same international media outfit discovered this statement to be false as it categorically noted that "there are only five Nigerians listed by the NBA for the 2021-2022 season. Five more are listed as having ties to Nigeria through their parents."
However, the aforesaid is not to say in any way that Obi is incompetent, neither does it takes away from his passion and readiness to fix the country, at least, economically.
2023: Massive votes certain as popular general overseer endorses Peter Obi
Meanwhile, Obi was on Tuesday, August endorsed by the general overseer of the Omega Power Ministry (OPM), Apostle Chibuzor Gift Chinyere.
Apostle Chinyere's decision was made known after he and the LP's presidential candidate for 2023 were nominated for the Man of the Year award by Igbere.
The Christian cleric who described Obi as the Moses of Nigeria sent by God, actually stepped down for him as he sees him as fitting for the honour.
Source: Legit.ng
