Our Reporter, Abuja
Former Anambra State Governor and 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has drawn comparisons between leadership culture in the United States and Nigeria, urging Nigerian leaders to embrace humility and public service.
Obi, who departed Lagos on Tuesday for a three-day working trip to the United States, shared his reflections on Thursday in a post via his official X handle. His itinerary covers Washington, Chicago, and Atlanta.
Upon arrival at the Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport—the busiest airport in the world handling over 100 million passengers annually—Obi highlighted its economic significance, noting that the facility, owned by the City of Atlanta, generates about $32 billion yearly for the city and $70 billion for the wider Georgia metropolitan area. He compared the figures to Nigeria’s national budget, stressing the scale of infrastructural and economic planning at the city level in the U.S.
He also pointed out that Atlanta City operates on a budget of about $3 billion (₦4.5 trillion), while its Mayor, Andre Dickens, has prioritized public safety, job creation, youth empowerment, and a minimum wage of $15 per hour for council workers.
Narrating his encounter with Mayor Dickens, Obi said both of them boarded the same flight to Washington without any of the pomp often associated with Nigerian officials. He emphasized that Dickens had no aides carrying his bags, no security sirens, no entourage, and no special treatment at the airports.
“In Nigeria, governors—most of whom oversee budgets smaller than Atlanta’s—and even local government chairmen, whose allocations are less than 1% of Atlanta’s, would have constituted a public nuisance with sirens, protocol officers, endless announcements, large entourages, and posters everywhere,” Obi wrote.
He stressed that the culture of leadership in Nigeria must change to reflect service and humility.
