Why Nigeria’s Economy Will not Improve in 2017 – Peter Obi

Former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, has opined that Nigeria’s economy may not improve in 2017 because the current government is not paying the required attention that will change the situation.

Featuring in an interview programme on CNBC Africa, the former governor likened Nigeria to a knocked Vehicle, stressing that rather than change its driver, attention should be on fixing the engine.

He said, “For me, I dont think (the economy will be better in 2017) because I have not seen the attention that is required for the situation we find ourselves.

“Where we are now is like having a car with which has an engine knock, and we are still busy talking about changing the driver. There is no engine in place; even if you bring in the best driver in the world, he is not going to move the car.

“We need to talk about how do we fix the engine of this vehicle, and that engine is the economy. Until we fix it, then we can talk about the driver, whether there is a good driver or bad driver.”

The former governor called on the political class to bury their different ideologies and come together with the aim of charting the way forward for the Nigerian economy.

“Considering where we are, we need to have in all these sectors, crisis manager to deal with the situation, We need to pull everybody together, it’s no longer a party matter, it is no longer a political matter, it is a survival matter.

“It’s not time to trade blames; it’s not time to dwell in yesterday. If you look at our headlines in our newspapers, the quality of discourse is low, we are still chasing shadows,” Obi said.