The Presidential candidate of the Labour party, Peter Obi, said that if he was the president of Nigeria, he would have moved to flood-ravaged Bayelsa State to show empathy and sort out the challenges.
He stated this on Sunday while speaking at the Arise Presidential Town Hall series on security and economy, organized by Arise Television in collaboration with the Centre for Democracy and Development.
The event is the first in the series of presidential town hall meetings before the 2023 general election. It was attended by the presidential candidates of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) Rabiu Kwankwaso, the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) Kola Abiola, and the vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Ifeanyi Okowa.
Obi said that Nigeria can reduce the devastating effect of the flood by dredging the river channels and receding Rivers Niger and River Benue.
Obi on the flooding: Peter Obi insisted that if Egypt can deal with the Nile River which is 6,650 kilometres, then Nigeria should be able to deal with River Niger which is only 4,184 kilometres, and River Benue which is 1,400 kilometres. He said:
- “Well, I thank so many governors who are intervening, including Governor Okowa in what they are doing to manage the situation. But it is something that Nigeria can manage to reduce the devastating effect by just dredging and receding all these rivers, River Niger and River Benue, by working on them, by channelling things properly with dams.
- ‘’If Egypt can maintain today the Nile that is functional, and the Nile is 6,650 kilometres long, Nigeria as a country can deal with River Niger which is only 4,184 kilometres long and River Benue which is 1,400 Kilometres. If you bring the two of them together, they are still about 1,000 kilometres short of the Nile and yet Egypt can deal with this. So, we can deal with this too.
- ‘’And contracts over the years have been awarded, but people have mismanaged them. I will deal with it, I assure you. Even with this present situation, I will stop everything and go there. When I look at what Bayelsa is going through today, I will be living in Bayelsa as Commander-In-Chief with them, showing empathy, showing everything with them to show that it is a country.’’
