The more people you pull out of poverty, the more you reduce criminality – Peter Obi
The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi has said eradicating poverty is the only way to reduce criminality in Nigeria.
He said this on Sunday at the Arise TV Presidential Town Hall Series on security and the economy, held in Abuja.
He urged the government to improve the way intelligence is processed and give immediate responses to security issues.
According to him, the current government did not do enough to prevent the Kaduna train attack even when there were intelligence reports. He said:
“There was a failure of processing and giving due attention to intelligence, which I would have given due intelligence and promptly dealt with. Government action and communication were weak. And I think that shows the overall need for us to improve our intelligence processing and give an immediate response whenever such a situation arises.
“I have said consistently, that the more people you put out of poverty, the more you reduce the criminality in the country.’’
Speaking on the lapses of the train attack, He noted that security agencies ignored warning signs and information of a possible attack as high as that.
Also, speaking on what he would have done otherwise, he said as the commander-in-chief he would have acted swiftly.
Obi said, “I believe there was a failure of intelligence processing. Because before it happened, from information available, there were already reports of insecurity on the corridor, as well as previous attempts that were ignored.”
“As president and commander in chief, the decision and the buck stops on my desk. I will be responsible to all Nigerians. I will be in charge,” Mr. Obi said.
The Labour Party Presidential candidate, Peter Obi, speaking on the recent flooding in the country, said that if he was the president of Nigeria, he would have moved to flood-ravaged Bayelsa State to show empathy and sort out the challenges.
Obi said that Nigeria can reduce the devastating effect of the flood by dredging the river channels and receding Rivers Niger and River Benue.
Obi on the flooding: Peter Obi insisted that if Egypt can deal with the Nile River which is 6,650 kilometres, then Nigeria should be able to deal with River Niger which is only 4,184 kilometres, and River Benue which is 1,400 kilometres. He said:
“Well, I thank so many governors who are intervening, including Governor Okowa in what they are doing to manage the situation. But it is something that Nigeria can manage to reduce the devastating effect by just dredging and receding all these rivers, River Niger and River Benue, by working on them, by channelling things properly with dams.
‘’If Egypt can maintain today the Nile that is functional, and the Nile is 6,650 kilometres long, Nigeria as a country can deal with River Niger which is only 4,184 kilometres long and River Benue which is 1,400 Kilometres. If you bring the two of them together, they are still about 1,000 kilometres short of the Nile and yet Egypt can deal with this. So, we can deal with this too.
‘’And contracts over the years have been awarded, but people have mismanaged them. I will deal with it, I assure you. Even with this present situation, I will stop everything and go there. When I look at what Bayelsa is going through today, I will be living in Bayelsa as Commander-In-Chief with them, showing empathy, showing everything with them to show that it is a country.’’
Present at the presidential debate were Mr. Obi, Musa Kwankwaso of the New Nigerian Peoples Party, and Kola Abiola of the Peoples Redemption Party.
Atiku Abubakar was absent but was represented by Delta State governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, his running mate.
Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was absent and had no representative.
