Peter Obi’s Diaspora Tour Receives Boost As Nigerian Musicians Make Appearance

The diaspora tour of Mr. Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate, has been boosted by the participation of two of Nigeria’s biggest musicians.

Phyno and Flavour joined Obi at the Howard University in Washington D.C., United States, where the presidential candidate had gone to interact with Nigerians in the U.S. capital.

The session which was put together by Philip Njowusi, an architect and CEO of Pan Services, was one of the five legs of his consultations.

At the meeting, Obi shared his plan to deliver good governance to the people if voted president and what role Nigerians in the diaspora can play in his government.

The LP candidate said the only way Nigeria’s fortunes could be turned around was if the citizens choose to vote for a leader with competence, capacity, credibility, and commitment.

“Good governance simply translates to eight critical governance values and an unfettered commitment to upholding them. These are a leadership or government being: Accountable, Transparent, Responsive, Equitable and Inclusive, Effective and Efficient, Follows the rule of law, participatory and consensus-oriented,” said Obi.

“Some of you are here in the United States by choice, but the majority are stranded here, but not by choice. Our national circumstances have compelled your sojourn here. But I am certain of this: If your hearts were not in Nigeria, if you were not patriotic, you won’t be here today.

“It is our shared common value to build a democratic, just, and egalitarian Nigeria that has brought us all together today. Membership, they say, has its privileges. Thus, Nigeria’s Diaspora has a continuing role and responsibility toward nation-building and national development.

“We have to ensure that by 2027 general elections, Nigeria Diaspora must have a voice to collectively express themselves via absentee ballots.”

Obi further identified diaspora remittances as critical to the nation’s development, pledging that his administration will “leapfrog” remittances to $60 billion annually from the $20 billion recorded in 2021 through good policies.

“With $20 billion in remittances in 2021, Nigeria ranks 6th behind the top five recipient countries; namely; India Mexico, China, the Philippines, Egypt, and Bangladesh.

“Expert assessments indicate that with proper policy and planning, we can leapfrog to about $60b in remittances annually. That will translate to about 14% of our total GDP.

“I foresee a Diaspora role of infinite possibilities if Nigeria Diaspora elects to harness and deploy their technology, expertise, industrial discipline, and experience to Nigeria for national development and encourage their hosts and friends to invest in Nigeria.

“With its huge Diaspora strength, the Nigerian Diaspora can help to mobilize efforts in the direction of private sector investment. Beyond your sheer financial power, your contributions also include ideas, creativity, and a diverse global network.”

On how he plans to address the country’s security challenges, Obi said “We will democratize our security architecture, via security sector and governance reforms; and proper civilian oversight that is not transactional.

“We will tweak the security architecture, and incentivize professionalism by offering each arm or agency, to lead in areas where they have a comparative advantage.”

He added, “We will rebuild Nigeria’s military power, promote economic growth, and enhance its technological prowess to improve Nigeria’s diplomatic influence in sub-regional, regional and global affairs via peacekeeping activities.

“We will proactively reassert Nigeria’s leadership role in African affairs through constructive engagement, using existing sub-regional and regional forums as well as bilateral platforms for dialogue on current and emerging challenges.

“We will aggressively pursue human capital development in the education and health sectors, within available resources; to adopt pertinent global best practices in both sectors.

“We will have zero tolerance for corruption; block leakages and cut the cost of governance. Our total commitment to transparency and accountability in government business is the only credible way to achieve limited to zero corruption.”