Peoples Democratic Party vice presidential candidate at the 2019 general elections, Peter Obi, has bemoaned the federal government’s policy which prioritizes the provision of infrastructure while failing to give adequate support to the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) sector of the economy.
He made the comment while discussing his views during an interview on Arise News network Morning Show programme.
He argued that many countries that have addressed the challenge of poverty did not do so through the of use infrastructure as a prop to drive the economy.
Obi asserted that poverty should not be viewed as a scary situation; rather, he advised that the focus should be on whether the country is making wise and proper investment.
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According to him, “I have said it severally that SMEs drive the economy of every country. Poverty is something that is seen all over the world. It happened in China. Everybody is aware that China pulled over 400 million people out of poverty. It also happened in India, but in five years, they pulled over 200 million people out of poverty. It happened in Vietnam also.”
He cited the case of Bangladesh, stating that any country can successfully push its economy by making good investment in education and SMEs.
Obi stated that Bangladeshi’s GDP as of 2008, stood at $101 billion, while its per capita income was $753, also its debt was $50 billion, which represented 50 percent of the GDP size.
He further noted that the Bangladeshi economy is presently worth over $300 billion while the per capita has leaped three-fold from $753 to over $2,000 and the national debt stands at $102 billion.
Obi said: “Their debt has actually reduced because instead of being 50 per cent of their GDP, it is now about 30 percent. What happened? Bangladesh took the money to SMEs. Today, Bangladesh is the second biggest exporter of textiles in the world.
“There are over 5,000 textiles in Bangladesh and they are making over $35 billion in textiles and textile materials, which is about what we are making from oil.
“I checked that other countries have done the same thing. They throw money into SMEs, and also invest in education. They did not go on building more infrastructures.”
