Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has again drawn attention to what he describes as Nigeria’s misplaced leadership culture, contrasting it with modest examples he witnessed during his current three-day visit to the United States.
Obi, who is visiting Atlanta, Washington, and Chicago, arrived on Tuesday through Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport—the world’s busiest, handling more than 100 million passengers annually, about five times the total traffic of all Nigerian airports combined. The city-owned facility generates about $32 billion a year for Atlanta alone, and nearly $70 billion for the wider Georgia economy—almost double Nigeria’s 2025 national budget.
In Atlanta, Obi met with the city’s Mayor, Andre Dickens, a former businessman who manages an annual budget of $3 billion and has set priorities around public safety, youth empowerment, and a $15 minimum wage for city workers.
What struck Obi most, however, was Dickens’ simplicity. The two later boarded the same commercial flight to Washington, D.C. “There was no special announcement of his presence, no aides carrying his bags, no sirens, no jumping the queue,” Obi observed.
By contrast, he lamented, Nigerian leaders with far smaller budgets often travel with convoys, sirens, protocol officers, and large entourages that cause public disruption. Even local government chairmen, whose allocations are a fraction of Atlanta’s, are not exempt from the culture of spectacle.
For Obi, the lesson is clear: “Leadership is not about display. It is about service, humility, and prudent use of public resources. Our public conduct must change.”
The former Anambra governor, who has built his political profile around frugality and reform, said his U.S. experience reinforced his conviction that Nigeria must reimagine leadership.
“A New Nigeria is POssible,” he added.