Former Anambra State Governor and 2023 presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, has lamented Nigeria’s worsening poverty, hunger and insecurity, saying more than 60 per cent of the population now lives in poverty.
Mr. Obi, who spoke on Wednesday, November 11, during a town hall meeting in Makurdi, Benue State, described the country’s situation as “very, very difficult and dire”, lamenting that millions of Nigerians go to bed hungry while the number of out-of-school children continues to rise.
He said Nigeria had become increasingly insecure, ranking fourth globally in terrorism, while kidnapping and killings had become commonplace, particularly in Benue, a state with enormous agricultural potential.
“It is only in Nigeria that they carry schoolchildren into the bush, have a phone and negotiate for a fee, but nobody knows where they are in today’s age. It cannot continue,” he said.
The presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) had earlier paid homage to the paramount ruler of the Tiv, His Eminence, Prof. James Ortese Iorzua Ayatse, in Gboko, before visiting Yelewata, where he laid a wreath at the cenotaph in honour of victims of the June 2025 massacre.
NDC gubernatorial candidate in the state, Prof. Terhemba Shija centered his message on rescuing and resetting Benue, which he said was facing an existential threat from insecurity and economic backwardness despite its abundant natural and human resources.
He pledged to promote large-scale agriculture, solid mineral development, agro-allied industries, tourism and critical infrastructure, including railways, an airport, inland river ports and improved road networks, as pathways to economic prosperity.
