Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, has linked the high incarceration rate of young people to the “cumulative failures in our nation.”
Following a visit to the Nigerian Correctional Center in Onitsha for their end-of-year Thanksgiving Church Service, the former governor of Anambra State voiced his concern about the significant number of young people held in correctional facilities nationwide.
On his X page (previously known as Twitter), Peter Obi expressed, “I was, however, deeply concerned that such a large number of youths in their productive years are confined in the correctional center, where they are largely unproductive.
“Many of the inmates are there as a result of the accumulated leadership failure in our country today. If we had a working society, we would not have such a huge number of our youths in different correctional facilities across the nation.”
READ ALSO: Four Lives Lost in Nasarawa Supermarket Attack
Obi further urged political leaders to “imbibe the spirit of sacrificial leadership to ensure that we build a progressive and secure nation where our youths will be productively engaged for the benefit of society.”
Despite the year’s challenges, Obi expressed his gratitude to God for the gift of life and encouraged the inmates to have faith in God, work diligently, and abide by the law, assuring them that a promising future still lies ahead.