.LP plans caretaker committee to organize convention
Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, has said the country needs to tackle the devastating effect of poverty and insecurity in the Northern region through agriculture and industrial revolution.
During his visit to the Emir of Zazzau in Kaduna State, Nuhu Bamali, as part of his ongoing tour of the North, the LP chieftain lamented that most of the vast arable lands in the North were uncultivated. At the same time, most of the industries in the region went under due to a lack of political will and inconsistent government policies.
He, however, noted that the present socio-economic instability in the country required leaders and other citizens to close ranks and see how the situation could be salvaged.
“The way things are in our country today requires that all of us must get involved in one way or another. Nigeria has nothing to do with poverty, if political leaders, including my humble self, had decided to serve the country faithfully. If we do, Nigeria will have nothing to do with poverty. I will always say this anytime I have the opportunity because Nigeria is one of the countries in the world that is blessed with everything that is required,” the former governor of Anambra State said yesterday.
According to him, God created us with a lot of resources, and if those resources are properly put in place, we will pull most poor people out of poverty.
He added: “Looking at the North, we can make more money from agriculture than we are making from oil. We have vast uncultivated land in the North, which can help pull people out of poverty, provide food for Nigeria, provide raw materials for industrialisation, and support export.
“We need to invest in the North. Insecurity is driven by poverty. The more you pull people out of poverty, the more you reduce insecurity.”
Meanwhile, Obi is also attending the Labour Party Political Commission, organised by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), in Abuja, where plans are on to constitute a caretaker committee that will organise the party’s congress.
He was represented by Tanko Yunusa.
Dignitaries at the gathering include the Chairman of LP Board of Trustees (BoT), Sylvester Ejiofor; representative of the Obidient Movement, Dr Moses Paul; Sen Victor Lar as well as LP candidates in the 2023 election.
Also present are the National Vice Chairman of the LP (South South), Amman Burkart and his counterpart for North East, the treasurer and the legal adviser of the party, among others.
Speaking in his opening address, the Acting Chairman of the Political Commission, Prof. Theophilus Ndubuaku, said the meeting would set up a caretaker committee, involving all relevant stakeholders that will organise the party’s convention.
