By Chibuike Nwabuko
ABUJA (PRECISE POST) – Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general election, Peter Obi on Wednesday gave statistical analysis of how a political leadership, with integrity, will help nations to achieve sustainable growth and development.
Peter Obi made the analysis while delivering a thought-provoking speech yesterday at John Hopkins University, USA on the topic: ” Politics and Change in Nigeria. The event was hosted by Prof. Peter Lewis, renowed author of “Growing Apart: Comparing Indonesia and Nigeria”.
Obi, who took to his verified X account, highlighted that failure of a nation depends largely on its Political Leadership just as competent, capable and compassionate political leadership, with integrity, will help nations to achieve sustainable growth and development.
Drawing comparisons between Nigeria and three peer countries—China, Vietnam, and Indonesia—Obi analyzed their respective progress from 1990 to the present. He highlighted that in 1990, all four nations fell under the “medium” category on the Human Development Index (HDI). Today, while China, Vietnam, and Indonesia have advanced to the “high” HDI category, Nigeria has regressed to the “low” category.
He also noted stark economic contrasts. In 1990, Nigeria’s GDP per capita was higher than China’s and significantly greater than Vietnam’s. However, by 2025, Nigeria’s GDP per capita lagged far behind, standing at about one-fifth of Indonesia’s and Vietnam’s and below one-tenth of China’s.
The reversal in poverty trends was even more telling. In 1990, Nigeria had the smallest number of people living in poverty among the four nations. Today, Nigeria has more poor people than China, Vietnam, and Indonesia combined, Obi emphasised.
Obi concluded by stressing the role of leadership in driving national development. He pointed out that these peer nations succeeded through leadership that prioritized investment in education, healthcare, and poverty alleviation—areas where Nigeria has lagged.
Obi statement on his X account reads:
Yesterday, at Johns Hopkins University, USA, I honoured the invitation to speak on “Politics and Change in Nigeria” from Professor Peter Lewis, the famous author of “Growing Apart: comparing Indonesia and Nigeria”.
In discussing this very critical issue, which directly impacts the direction of a nation, I pointed out that the failure of a nation depends largely on its Political Leadership. Competent, capable and compassionate political leadership, with integrity, will help nations to achieve sustainable growth and development.
In my speech, I tried to assess 3 of our comparable nations – China, Vietnam and Indonesia, from 1990 till date.
In 1990, the year the measurement of the Human Development Index (HDI) was started, these 3 comparable nations, including Nigeria, were all classified under the medium category of the HDI measurement. 35 years later, 3 of these nations have moved up to the High category of HDI while Nigeria has fallen into the low category.
Within the same period of 35 years, from 1990 to 2025, the GDP Per Capita of these comparable nations have all improved. As of 1990, while Nigeria had a GDP per capita of $556, China had $317, Indonesia had $578, and Vietnam had only $99. Nigeria, obviously, had higher GDP per capita than China, while Vietnam had less than one-fifth of Nigeria’s per capita. Today, Nigeria’s per capita is about one-fifth of Indonesia’s ($5000) and Vietnam’s (4400) GDP per capita and below one-tenth of China’s (1300) GDP per capita.
In the area of poverty, Nigeria with about 50 million poor people, had the least number of people in poverty in 1990 than any of the three countries. While China had about 750 million people living in poverty, Indonesia and Vietnam had 85 million and 60 million poor people, respectively. China alone had about 15 times the number of poor people than Nigeria. Today, however, Nigeria has more poor people than these 3 countries combined.
The question then is, what exactly did these countries do to be able to achieve the desired growth and development? That is where political leadership comes in. These comparable nations, and indeed other progressive nations, unlike Nigeria, have competent leadership with character, capacity and compassion, committed to prioritizing investment in critical areas of developmental measures; Education, Health, and pulling people out of poverty.
Precise Post recalls that the former Anambra Governor’s speech served as a clarion call for transformative leadership and a renewed national commitment to development-oriented governance in Nigeria and he concluded his tweet with the assurance that new Nigeria is POssible.
