Peter Obi, Presidential Candidate of Labour Party in the 2023 election, has criticised the present administration, saying there are more “Yahoo people” in government than those outside.
Obi said this in his keynote address as guest speaker at the 4th graduation ceremony of Nexford University.
At the event themed: “Lead the change; ignite your future”, Obi stressed that the country is at the mercy of corrupt officials milking from the government coffers.
“For governance, don’t think when we talk about vices, it is only Yahoo boys. There are actually more Yahoo people in government than there are outside because we have turned the entire country into a crime scene where people inside are stealing and people outside are stealing,” he said.
He emphasised on the need for quality leadership to manage the affairs of the country, urging the graduates to become positive change agents in their communities.
“It is about leadership and igniting the future. It is not rocket science but it is difficult. It is being able to have a strong character, the ability not to do the wrong thing.
“It is for you to help to bring a better change in that society that you want to live in. You have acquired knowledge today.Use what you have learnt to help us change society.
“You are a victim of Nigeria because our age and the age before has refused to do what is right and you are suffering it,” he stressed.
The former Minister of Solid Minerals, Obi Ezekwesili described service as the bedrock of leadership, urging the graduates to engage in services that impact positively in both their workspace and the country as a whole.
“Service is the best of leadership. We hope that you see graduation as the opportunity for service to the work.”
“The world of work you are in is different from our world of work. This whole world that you are in, you have to master it,” she said.
The founder of the institution, Fadl Al Tarzi, highlighted that no fewer than 1200 students graduated, earning both first degrees and Master’s.
He said the institution is poised on improving education with the aid of technology, attributing it to the support of the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support learning.
“We have Artificial Intelligence (AI) specialisation for almost five years actually and we have integrated AI in all our courses in all of our programmes.
He stressed that AI could help Nigeria talents connect with global talents and improve the country’s economy.
“AI is going to improve the economy depending on how developed it is and it is going to unfortunately put people out of jobs whether in Nigeria and in other markets but it has the potential to increase productivity and to solve problems that could have taken years to solve significantly to accelerate research and development,” he said.
One of the graduates, Yewande Matthew who finished first class in Digital Marketing, said her academic voyage was mixed with excitement and labor, attributing her academic feat to prioritizing activities and effective time management.
