According to the Labour Party’s (LP) presidential candidate, the human component is primarily to blame for Nigeria’s problems.

On Wednesday, Mr. Obi made this statement while appearing as a guest on The Morning Show on Arise TV.

He claimed to have visited several nations to research their successful economic practises.

The difficulty with Nigeria’s methods, according to Mr. Obi, a former governor of Anambra State and former chairman of Fidelity Bank, has been the nation’s leaders’ inability to address the country’s “human factor problem,” despite the fact that both countries have adopted similar strategies.

“(For instance) it takes you three months to clear goods at Nigerian Ports. To clear goods in Cotonu (Togo), (takes you) two days. The same in Ghana, Ivory Coast. I have actually travelled to Singapore, and other countries because of ports. I studied what works for the ports,” he said.

Mr. Obi advised that in order for Nigeria to advance, the human aspect that presents challenges for government initiatives must be addressed.

“It is a human factor problem,” the former governor said.

“What we need to do is to deal with human factor (problem). Everything you are seeing in Nigeria that has not worked, whether it is scanning, is because of the human factor problem. You deal with it decisively,” Mr Obi said.

The Labour Party presidential contender claimed that before the education sector in Anambra State experienced positive growths, he fixed the human element issue that was harming it.

“I tell people what we did in education in Anambra State. We moved from 26 to 21 (in ranking). We didn’t change the teachers.

“They were the same teachers and we didn’t hire new people. But when they saw the body language of the leader and that people were being asked to go if they don’t deliver it, they delivered it,” he said.

He claimed that the nation is in a coma and is in desperate need of a “expert” to prevent a complete collapse.

“This election will not be based on ethnicity or religion. It will be based on Nigerian agenda to save this country, ” he said.

“Nigeria is in coma, and it needs a specialist. And that’s why I am offering (myself) to save its life or it will die,” Mr Obi added.

Subsidy removal

The withdrawal of fuel subsidies in Nigeria, according to Mr. Obi, has not been challenged by the LP.

Because the Nigerian government has not made any progress with the project, he claimed that Nigerians have been “critical” of the subsidy regime.

He claimed that the money being used to maintain the subsidy system could have been better spent by the government on other national initiatives.

“You have to convince people. People are against removal of subsidy because whenever it is done, they did not see its benefit. We did privatisation, we didn’t see the benefits. What we did is (that) we privatise profits, we socialise nothing,” he said.

Mr. Obi expressed concern that Nigeria is not exporting enough goods to generate enough foreign currency to pay its debts.

The former governor declared that his administration would focus more on production and exporting if elected president in 2023 in order to boost the economy and revenue of the nation.

“There is no reason Nigeria should not be exporting at least N300 billion worth of products,” he said.

Attack on adversaries

The LP presidential contender claimed that individuals who disparage his rivals online are not among his followers.

He claimed they were individuals hired by his rivals to disparage others and paint him in a negative light.

The former governor claimed that he is running for office because of his competency and that people should support him based on that ability rather than on regional or racial prejudices.