Watch: Nigerian presidential candidate Peter Obi on his plans to transform Nigeria’s economy and improve its image – In Depth
The former military head says he can see a way to make Nigeria a world power through “national service.”
Peter Obi has been nominated in a bitter election for the leadership of Nigeria’s main opposition party. His main plan? A “national service” – in which Nigeria’s young people will take to the streets to demand their rights.
“The most significant thing, the most fundamental thing right now, is to have what we are calling ‘national service,'” Obi said Monday during a news conference in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.
“We are in a period of time when young Nigerians need to be mobilized into this society, because right now, they are the ones that are going to change the society,” Obi added, as he promised to use the new service as a “bridge” to the “national dialogue” – a process that includes dialogue among youth at the grassroots level.
He spoke about the new service, which Nigeria’s youth have been demanding, during a news conference at the National Youth Empowerment Authority, or NYEA.
“So what we have been advocating for a long time is the creation of what we call national service, which is voluntary service, service for the nation as a whole and to create conditions where they can start doing it,” Obi said.
Obi, one of the founding fathers of the current ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), said he had proposed the idea to President Muhammadu Buhari, who had approved it. He said he also told Buhari about the problems facing the country’s youth.
“I mean, the youth are not receiving what they deserve, not taking the right path to the right path. We need a bridge so that they can begin doing better, starting to do this national service,” Obi said.
Buhari was reluctant to act on Obi’s invitation, according to his chief of staff, Ibrahim Magu
