The 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi, has said that investing in human development, such as education and healthcare, will play a significant role in curbing insecurity in Nigeria.
Obi, in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday, asserted that reducing the number of people living in poverty will substantially decrease the crime rate, noting that criminality in Nigeria is not “a coincidence or an accident”.
He wrote: “I have consistently maintained that the more we pull people out of poverty, the more we reduce criminality, and the reverse is also true. You can not separate security from human development; they are inextricably linked.
“The criminality we witness in Nigeria today is not a coincidence or an accident. It is the cumulative outcome of decades of misplaced priorities, the direct consequence of poor governance, mismanagement of public resources, monumental corruption, and systemic neglect.
“I have consistently maintained that development is not about awarding billion-naira contracts for white elephant projects or building structures without soul or purpose. Real development means investing in the critical areas of human development that directly impact human capital: education, healthcare, and poverty eradication.”
According to him, a country where nearly 100 million citizens live in extreme poverty and over 140 million experience multidimensional poverty will inevitably face a serious security crisis.
Obi cited the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, stating that “You cannot fight insecurity with bullets alone. You must address the root causes, poverty, unemployment, lack of education, and injustice.”
“This is not coming from a politician but from the nation’s top military commander. Even the boots on the ground know the battle can not be won by force alone. We must win it through human dignity, opportunity, and justice,” he explained.
The former Anambra State governor recounted that decades earlier, Mallam Aminu Kano, warned, “The problem with Nigeria is that we abandon the masses and then criminalise their hunger”, affirming that his words still ring true today.
He stated that a child out of school today becomes vulnerable to manipulation and extremism tomorrow, and a family that goes to bed hungry becomes a breeding ground for resentment.
Obi emphasised that a community without access to clean water, primary healthcare, or opportunity becomes a powder keg waiting to explode.
The politician continued: “Mother Teresa of Calcutta reminds us that ‘when a poor person dies of hunger, it has not happened because God did not take care of him or her. It has happened because neither you nor I wanted to give that person what he or she needed’.
“We can not keep reacting to crises self-inflicted by bad leadership and policy failure. It is time to disrupt this cycle. We must prioritise productive investment in critical sectors, education, health, and agriculture. These are not just economic priorities; they are national security imperatives.”
He mentioned that Nigerians can not continue with business as usual, explaining that every naira invested in people today is one less bullet we need to fire tomorrow.
“That is the real meaning of security. That is how we build a new Nigeria that is possible,” he added.
