The Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has criticised Peter Obi, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), over his recent comments about Nigeria, saying that he contributed to the increase in poverty in the country.
Thelensng reports that Mr. Obi, on Thursday, was invited to Johns Hopkins University, USA, to deliver a speech on “Politics and Change in Nigeria”.
In his remarks, he assessed Nigeria alongside three comparable countries, China, Vietnam, and Indonesia, from 1990 till date.
The politician recounted that in 1990, when the measurement of the Human Development Index (HDI) began, all three comparable nations were classified under the “medium” category of the HDI scale.
However, he decried that 35 years later, those countries have moved up to the “high” category of HDI, while Nigeria has fallen into the “low” category.
“Within the same period of 35 years, from 1990 to 2025, the GDP Per Capita of these comparable nations have all improved. As of 1990, while Nigeria had a GDP per capita of $556, China had $317, Indonesia had $578, and Vietnam had only $99. Nigeria, obviously, had higher GDP per capita than China, while Vietnam had less than one-fifth of Nigeria’s per capita.
“Today, Nigeria’s per capita is about one-fifth of Indonesia’s ($5000) and Vietnam’s (4400) GDP per capita and below one-tenth of China’s (1300) GDP per capita,” Obi stated.
The former Anambra State Governor also lamented that Nigeria currently has more poor people than the three countries combined, attributing this to government failures, among other things.
Reacting to Obi’s comments on Monday, Governor Sanwo-Olu expressed dissatisfaction, describing them as “disparaging”.
According to him, Obi made unflattering remarks not just about the current Nigerian government, but also about Nigeria.
His words: “I also find Mr. Obi’s pattern of behaviour disturbing. When prominent Nigerians go overseas, they ought to project Nigeria positively. They do not have to do that for the government. But we all owe a duty to market Nigeria on the global stage rather than de-market her. That is what true patriotism is about.
“Because Mr. Obi focused on poverty and said that the current administration’s policies are making Nigerians poorer, I will concentrate on that. Any leader can fight poverty generationally by promoting education, improving healthcare, providing credit, and granting access to land.
“Now, I find it somewhat ironic that a man like Mr. Obi, who did not build a single school or a stand alone hospital throughout his eight-year tenure as Governor of Anambra or sustainably provide credit facilities, would criticise the Government of Nigeria, which is actively doing that.
“I say this because the President of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is my predecessor, and as Governor of Lagos and now President of Nigeria, has built over 200 schools and provided student loans to more than 200,000 undergraduates of Nigerian tertiary institutions.”
Sanwo-Olu noted that in less than two years, President Tinubu has provided over half a billion dollars in credit facilities to small and medium-scale enterprises.
He recounted that as Lagos State Governor between 1999 and 2007, Tinubu reduced poverty by more than 46%, emphasising that there is every reason to believe that he will repeat the same feat at the federal level.
The Governor continued: “After all, the best predictor of the future is the past. But let us examine the messenger, not just the message, and look at the issuer as well as the issues. Mr. Obi talks a good game. But was he able to reduce poverty while he governed Anambra? Perhaps we can let the facts speak for themselves.
“Under Peter Obi as a two term Anambra Governor, poverty in Anambra increased. It did not reduce. Before Peter Obi became Anambra Governor on Thursday, June 14, 2007, the poverty rate in Anambra was 41.4%.
“But after only two years in office, the poverty rate in Anambra jumped to 53.7%. But the interesting thing is that five years after Peter Obi left office, his successor, Willie Obiano, reduced the poverty rate in Anambra from almost 60% to 14.8%.”
Based on the above, Sanwo-Olu said that he is not sure that Obi is morally well placed to make the alarming claims he made about Nigeria at Johns Hopkins.
“Mr. Obi contributed to the increase in poverty in Nigeria. Governor Tinubu, as he then was, was responsible for lifting millions out of poverty. Being that that is the case, who should criticise who?,” he asked.
