By Isa Isawade
Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 elections and former governor of Anambra State, Dr. Peter Obi has revealed the motive behind his recent trip to Indonesia.
According to Obi, the trip was to understudy the progress made so far by the Asian country and compare with Nigeria’s as a wake up call.
The opposition politician revealed this on his X handle on Sunday.
“Driven by my firm conviction that what is imperatively required now is to learn from and strictly apply the successful lessons that other comparable nations have used to achieve progress, as I had expressly and severally tweeted earlier this year, I embarked on my first planned trip to Indonesia.
“I arrived in Indonesia on the 2nd of February and spent five days—Monday to Friday—engaging in several hours of meetings with highly placed stakeholders on various issues of development.
“These discussions covered critical areas such as security, education, healthcare, and poverty alleviation,” Obi wrote.
He revealed some amazing progress recorded by Indonesia within a relatively short time.
Obi said: “In 2004, Indonesia’s per capita income was $1,136, while Nigeria’s was $963. At that time, Indonesia’s overall development, as measured by the Human Development Index (HDI), was categorized as medium, whereas Nigeria’s was low.
“By 2024, Indonesia’s per capital income has risen to approximately $5,000, while Nigeria’s remains around $1,000. Indonesia’s HDI has improved from the medium to the high category, whereas Nigeria remains in the low category. For example, using health, the number one HDI indicator, Indonesia now has 98% health insurance coverage, whereas Nigeria has less than 10%.”
He promised to share snippets from the trip which he believed would be helpful to Nigeria .
“I have already noted some key insights which align with my firm belief that learning from proven models is the panacea for sustainable growth and development,” Obi concluded.