Nigeria has been in trouble since independence because of the failure of leadership, a former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, said on Thursday.

Obi condemned the practice of money politics by some politicians in the country, stressing that only competent leadership can unite the nation.

Nigerians, he said, must “resist the temptation by enemies of collective progress, as well as the influence of money bags as Nigeria prepares for the 2023 general elections.”

According to him, leadership inadequacy contributed in worsening the country’s problems, from widening the parochial divisions among the citizens to the plundering of the treasury.

He, therefore, called on the youth to take over the ownership of the country, stressing that their docility in the affairs of the nation contributed to their bane.

Obi stated these in his lecture titled ‘National development: Role of the Nigeria youths’ during the inauguration of the National Executive Council of Nigeria Ethnic Nationalities Youth Leaders Council which held in Abuja.

He said, “Don’t think you are going to get anything out of incompetent leadership no matter how it benefits you personally. It will worsen the entire country and eventually worsen you.

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Let Nigeria’s next leadership from the local governments to the state and federal levels be people who have the capacity to govern; people who have integrity and managers of resources; people who know where to invest. The biggest assets of a country are human beings that live in that country. Nigeria as a nation has not invested in its people.

“It is good we have some physical infrastructure. But you cannot make physical infrastructure without investing in human development.”