You built no school, spiked poverty in Anambra, Sanwo-Olu slams Peter Obi

 

The Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has faulted the Labour Party Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi, for his remarks on poverty in Nigeria.

Sanwo-Olu said Obi contributed to the increase in poverty in Nigeria during his tenure as Anambra State governor.
Obi, while speaking at Johns Hopkins University, United States, compared the poverty rate in Nigeria with that of China and Vietnam.

According to him, the population of poor people in Nigeria was lower than that of China and Vietnam in 1990, but both countries have become more developed than Nigeria.

He blamed the country’s political leadership for the astronomical poverty rate in the country, arguing that they were not committed to pulling Nigerians out of poverty.

“These comparable nations, and, indeed, other progressive nations, unlike Nigeria, have competent leadership with character, capacity and compassion, committed to prioritising investment in critical areas of developmental measures: education, health, and pulling people out of poverty,” Obi argued.

However, Sanwo-Olu said Obi was deliberately demarketing Nigeria and its government with derogatory remarks.

Sanwo-Olu said Obi lacked the moral standing to make those remarks because he failed to build a school, hospital, or sustainably provide credit facilities throughout his eight-year tenure as governor of Anambra.

“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,” Sanwo-Olu said in a statement.

Sanwo-Olu also compared Obi’s tenure as Anambra Governor and President Bola Tinubu’s tenure as Lagos State Governor.

He noted that Tinubu reduced poverty by more than 46 per cent in Lagos when he was governor between 1999 and 2007, while the poverty rate in Anambra increased from 41.4 per cent to 53.7 per cent after Obi’s tenure as governor.

He expressed hope that Tinubu would replicate the feat he achieved as governor of Lagos at the federal level.

“After all, the best predictor of the future is the past,” Sanwo-Olu said.

https://guardian.ng/news/you-built-no-school-spiked-poverty-in-anambra-sanwo-olu-slams-peter-obi/