Obi, who featured in Classic FM’s The Discourse, a public affairs show, urged Nigeria to undertake research on the best economies and learn a few things about how they change their fortunes for the benefit of the citizens.
He stressed the need for Nigeria to invest in education in order to become economically productive and compete with the rest of the world.
The ex-governor is one of the 15 aspirants vying for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential ticket in this month’s primary in Abuja.
He said: “The more educated the people, the better it is for the economy, which in the long run helps our development as a nation. You don’t do physical infrastructure before human infrastructure. Human capital is too low in Nigeria.
“You need to pull people out of poverty. That’s what the Asian countries did. India pulled 250 million people out of poverty in five years.”
He described corruption, irresponsible spending, and “sick leadership” as Nigeria’s greatest problems.
Obi added: “What people are acquiring now is no longer greed. It’s become a sickness. People are sick here. People have to reduce their greed. People are acquiring what they don’t need. N80 billion is the budget of a state. That’s no longer greed, it’s sickness.
“One of the main reasons why Nigeria is not progressing economically is that people think our problem can be solved by politics. The engine of solving this problem is the economy. The economy must work. The engine of productivity is the young people.
“The reason why it’s worse now is that young people in their productive age are doing nothing at the time the system is supposed to support them; at the time they have all the energy. The greatest employer of labour is the Micro Small Enterprises. That’s where the dominant young people are. They need to be supported with ideas and grants. They need to be properly directed. The government needs to give them hope.”