MON OCT 19 2026-theGBJournal| Peter Obi, the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate is considering ambitious measures to tackle corruption, overhaul public services and increase electricity generation, professor of political economy Pat Utomi has said, offering a preview of Obi’s proposed manifesto.
Utomi, a management expert, said he attended a brainstorming session on the manifesto with Obi, during a long drive from Manchester with stops in Birmingham.
In a statement titled “The Audacity of Imagination”, Utomi said the proposals centred on bold interventions to rescue Nigeria from crippling corruption, which he said had pushed the country’s misery index into the red.
“We agreed that besides debilitating corruption and poor leadership hamstringing progress, not having bold innovations and tenacity have been in the way of the promise of Nigeria,” he said.
The proposals include declaring states of emergency in education, healthcare, food security, security and power, with specially appointed champions tasked with driving performance against ambitious targets.
Utomi said the approach would be backed by consequences for officials who failed to meet agreed targets within specified timelines, making accountability a central tool of public management.
He also outlined what he described as a frontal assault on corruption, particularly through technology designed to prevent customs duties and other government revenues from being diverted into private pockets.
Such measures could generate more than 30 trillion naira ($21 billion) annually without increasing taxes, Utomi said, although he provided no detailed calculations to support the estimate.
The additional revenue, he said, could finance a functioning primary healthcare system and the construction of one world-class hospital in each of Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones within 30 months.
A special initiative to encourage Nigerians in the diaspora to return home would also help transform the healthcare sector, he added.
On electricity, Utomi said the proposals envisaged large-scale deployment of solar and wind energy, alongside emergency power generation using turbines mounted on barges operating along major rivers.
The combination could rapidly raise Nigeria’s generating capacity to 40,000 megawatts through innovative financing arrangements without government borrowing, he said, citing Egypt and other countries as examples.
Nigeria has long struggled with inadequate electricity supply, while corruption, weak public services and limited infrastructure investment have constrained economic growth.
Utomi’s account offers an early glimpse of the NDC candidate’s proposed policy direction. The detailed manifesto, including implementation plans, financing structures and timelines for the proposed interventions, was not included in his statement.
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