How I plan to use showbiz to reduce poverty in Nigeria – Peter Obi

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, has said he plans to invest in the entertainment industry “because it will help pull Nigerians out of poverty.”

In a live chat with Ayo Makun, the comedian, on Thursday, Obi spoke about the rising rate of poverty in Nigeria and how his administration — if elected as president — intends to mitigate the situation.

According to a recent report by the National Bureau of Statistics, 133 million Nigerians are multidimensionally poor.

During the live chat, the ex-Anambra state governor said he plans to use showbiz and sports to attract investments and create new jobs in the country.

He cited countries of the world that have used the entertainment industry to improve their economy and reduce the rate of poverty.

“Nigerians especially young ones – youths, are very entrepreneurial in areas of business, sports, science and technology, entertainment, and sports. And these are the areas we tend to invest. We tend to invest in it because it will help pull people out of poverty.

“It will help in uniting and changing the country. So it’s not just something anybody can do. It is something we have already put, knowing what they have been able to do in country after country.

“Ask them today, Brazil has used sports to pull their people out of poverty. Countries have used entertainment to pull people out of poverty and these are some of the things that are uniting the country.

“You can agree with me that the country (Nigeria) doesn’t have too much division in the area of entertainment and area of sports.

“So if we are saying we are going to secure and unite the country, these are areas we’re gonna encourage.

“We have a lot of ways we can use it to create the new Nigeria we are envisaging when we say a new Nigeria is possible. These are areas to tackle. These are areas to create new jobs – areas so many things can happen,” Obi said.

The presidential election is scheduled to hold on February 25.

Peter Obi, like other candidates, has been doing campaign rounds.

Obi is contesting against Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, among others.