Former minister of education and presidential aspirant at the 2019 elections, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, has said the many challenges facing the country is proof that the Buhari administration lacks the capacity to be the kind of leader Nigerians need. She said unlike Buhari, she could have performed better if given the opportunity to lead the country.
Featuring on Channels television’s Politics Today, Ezekwesili said a President was expected to unite his people and not create enemies.
She said: “A divided country needs a leader who will immediately send a signal that it is indeed one country and that we are one people, not a President who is parochial in his disposition.
“The president has no luxury of having an enemy. Any true leader cannot have an enemy amongst his people. So I would unite the people behind that sincerity and openness of leadership that will give people a sense that we are one people.”
The former Education minister also lamented over the rate of unemployment in the country.
While stressing that Nigeria was in serious trouble, she said nearly 40 per cent of the youths are unemployed.
“We are in serious trouble. If we were to be a publicly quoted company, we would have been put up for a special team to undertake a rescue operation on us.
“Do you understand what it means for us to have near to 25 percent of the unemployment rate in the country for more than 40 percent of our young people to be unemployed?” she queried.
Ezekwesili had previously said it is impossible for the country to make progress with an uninformed and indifferent citizens.
She made the statement in an interview with Daily Times, saying the indifference of Nigerians and inability to make informed decisions, is the reason the country is struggling with bad governance.
The former minister made the statement in response to a question on whether it is possible to have a qualitative governance system in Nigeria without qualitative and informed citizenry.
She said, "It is impossible to run a democracy of uninformed and indifferent citizens and end up with qualitative governance. If a country’s democracy is lacking in the basic features of democratic ethos, values, principles and institutions, governance will less likely produce good outcomes for the larger number of people.
"This is what we see in our country. It is why despite all our huge endowment of population, natural resources and geography, we are the world’s capital of extremely poor people with more than 80 million Nigerians in that category.
"Nigeria is ranked one of the most insecure countries in the world, the number 3 spot on terrorism ravaged table and 13 on the States fragility index. Sixty years after independence, we have infant and maternal mortality rates that are higher than the average in Africa. We are the country with the largest number of out-of-school children.
"And by the way, on this matter of Out-of-School children, we did prove that there are sound policy solutions that work to reduce it and get children into the classrooms especially in the Northern States. As minister of education between 2006-2007, we reduced the number from about 7million to 6.5 million. within one academic session. Today the number is a painful 13.5 million children growing as illiterate in the 21st century.
"No. It is impossible for our democracy to deliver qualitative governance without informed, active and engaged citizenry who make a deliberate move to take their center stage in the electoral and governance processes.
"What I have said of Nigeria is unfortunately applicable in most of the other African countries. It is why by 2035, if we do not #FixPolitics on our continent, more than 90% of the world’s remaining poor people will be on our continent. That would be a monumental tragedy."