Former presidential candidate Peter Obi delivered a fiery and uncompromising speech at a book launch in Abuja on Monday, declaring that he is “not desperate to be president” but desperate to see Nigeria work for its children. Obi’s blunt remarks, delivered at the unveiling of a new book by Professor Bol, sparked strong reactions as he accused the Nigerian elite — including himself — of helping to hold the nation down through mismanagement, greed, and a refusal to embrace knowledge-driven development.
Obi began by praising the author for producing a timely intellectual contribution, insisting that the ideas contained in the book reflect the global consensus that Nigeria is not a poor country but one that has suffered decades of catastrophic mismanagement. “Africa is not a poor continent. Nigeria is not a poor country. We are a very rich nation that has become the poverty capital of the world,” he said.
He went on to question how a nation with abundant land, natural resources, and a young, energetic population could sink so low. Drawing stark comparisons, Obi cited the Netherlands, with only 33,000 square kilometers of usable land, exporting over €120 billion worth of agricultural products yearly — three times Nigeria’s oil revenue. Nigeria’s Niger State alone, he noted, is more than double the size of the Netherlands yet remains largely uncultivated.
He extended the comparison to Israel, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, and Singapore — much smaller nations that have built thriving economies without Nigeria’s level of natural resource endowment. “Bangladesh produces 50 to 60 million tonnes of rice yearly. Nigeria cannot produce even 10% of that,” he said, blaming weak leadership and elite sabotage.
Obi did not spare the Niger Delta, insisting the region deserves a national apology. He condemned the environmental destruction caused by oil extraction and the failure of successive governments to develop the area or compensate its people. “The entire Niger Delta deserves an apology for wasting their resources and wasting everybody’s time,” he said, rejecting recent calls for ‘negotiations’ with local leaders. “You don’t negotiate what you have taken from people. You should be begging them.”
Lashing out at the political class, he accused leaders of lacking capacity and compassion, arguing that widespread poverty is the major driver of insecurity across the country. “There is criminality everywhere, but my dear, it is mass poverty. The more you pull people out of poverty, the more you reduce criminality,” he said.
Obi blamed Nigeria’s stagnation on an “elite conspiracy” that keeps the nation trapped in dysfunction while fueling tribal and religious divisions. “Is there any tribe that buys bread cheaper? Is there any religion that buys food cheaper?” he asked. “People like me in elite conspiracy have refused the country to move.”
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Referencing academic works such as Growing Apart and Why Nations Fail, Obi said Nigeria has become the global case study of a country that knows what to do but refuses to do it. He recalled Nobel laureate James Robinson’s statement that Nigeria exemplifies nations that understand the path to prosperity yet deliberately choose decline. “Nobody listens because it is a country of the unlearned,” Obi lamented.
As he rounded off, Obi reiterated his stance on leadership ambition: “I am not desperate to be president. I am desperate to see Nigeria work for our children.” He urged citizens, royal fathers, intellectuals, and professionals to join a new national movement to rebuild the country from the ground up.
The event ended with Obi participating in the unveiling of Professor Bol’s book, which he pledged to purchase, describing it as a vital contribution to national reform and development.
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