The Labour Party 2023 presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi, has criticised several European nations for what he described as their limited awareness of the economic and political realities in Nigeria and across Africa.
Speaking at a plenary session of the European Parliament, Obi said it had become necessary to educate European policymakers on the continent’s true situation, rather than the narratives often presented by African leaders.
Obi, addressing participants and responding to questions, said, “Why am I here”? I’m just here to be able to start a conversation because I found out the European Union or most countries of Europe and the western world, actually have little knowledge about Nigeria and Africa in general.
“And because of it, in their decision, in their thinking they rarely bring Africa into perspective. I say to them it is time to rethink. Africa today, is the last frontier of global development. It’s the second biggest continent in terms of size in the world, the second biggest continent in terms of population. It’s the continent that has the highest amount of natural resources. It’s a continent that has vast uncultivated land, a continent with a young population. Further in his address, he said that sixty percent of Africa’s population today is young.
“But then again it’s a continent of mass poverty. Today, Europe, if I take Nigeria for example, in terms of population is 50 percent of the European Union population. “You’re about 450 million, and about 240 million, so you have over 50 percent of your population. In terms of land size, Europe has about 4 point something million square kilometres, Nigeria is about a quarter of that, just Nigeria. But when it comes to wealth, while Europe has a Per Capita of over $40,000, Nigeria, which is 50% of your population, has a Per Capita of about 2 and a half percent of that of Europe. So you could see the potential, with all the resources, the growth potential”.
Obi stressed that Europe stands to gain significantly if Africa succeeds, noting that their geographic proximity and shared interests make cooperation essential, according to The Sun.
He argued that if Africa’s development collapses, Europe would feel the impact more than any other region. “If it collapses, the consequences will affect you more. I believe that we have so many commonalities that we can work together on everything, and what is the problem with Africa? The problem of Africa remains, leadership”.
He outlined what he believes effective leadership must embody—capacity, compassion, commitment and character—adding that Africa needs leaders who can curb corruption, uphold law and order, and invest in health and education to lift citizens out of poverty.
“It was discussed here that we have issues of killings, which again, people can say it’s genocide, people can say it’s Muslims Versus Christians, and everything. Are there killings? Are there criminalities, or are they kidnappings? Yes.
“But we have to look at the issues that are driving these. When you have a huge population, for example, Nigeria has millions of people living in multidimensional poverty, we have millions of out-of-school children or those who didn’t go to school at all. With mass poverty, and mass uneducated people, you have room for easy recruitment for all forms of criminality. Which is what is driving the killings that we need to deal with, and now we’re moving around and moving around and saying we need support, we need you to help us to overcome these and be able to create a clear developing environment that will also benefit you because it’s a huge market for you, it’s a huge advantage in terms of resources and everything if Africa especially Nigeria, is doing well it’s the most populous country in Africa, it’s about one sixth of Africa’s population, and it has all it takes to be a huge market that Europe just like Africa can tap. And to turn around Africa you have to turn around Nigeria because it’s the country that will drive the rest of Africa. To develop Africa, which will benefit you, you must start in Nigeria.“So that’s why I came to continue the conversation with you. I know it’s something that requires several visits, to be able to intimate you more on this commitment, on this trajectory that I want you to go down with us, and be able to turn Africa, Niin geria in particular”.
