In an apparent swipe at former presidential candidate, Peter Obi, the Senator representing Abia North Senatorial District, Orji Kalu, has said leaders need to stop demarketing Nigeria when they travel abroad.

Kalu said this after Obi's speech at Johns Hopkins University in the United States, which revealed that Nigeria now has more poor people than can be found in China, Vietnam and Indonesia combined.

In a video on social media, Kalu lamented that while he and others were abroad trying to attract investors to Nigeria, some leaders were demarketing the country.

He said, "It is very difficult to see some of our leaders going around America, Europe, Canada, Australia and China, demarketing our country. While we are busy looking for investors to pull up the country, people are busy telling everybody that in Nigeria, nothing is happening."

Kalu also spoke about the economic policies of President Bola Tinubu, stating that they are already working.

"The problem is that it is not trickling down. It is the trickle-down effect that he's after. That is why we need continuous investment," the lawmaker said.

He further stated that when investment is brought to Nigeria, citizens will get jobs and things will work in the country.

"I know it is difficult all over the world. But let our leaders come together. We are one family. Tinubu is not the owner of this country. He's just our president and he will one day go. Buhari is already in Daura. Tinubu will one day, after eight years, return to Lagos. So, let us stop demarketing our country. Let us, as a family, come together and work on our economic policies," Kalu said.

The lawmaker then urged the opposition to come up with solutions to the problems they claim Nigeria has, instead of demarketing the country.

"If it's this way the opposition will be, it means they have nothing to offer Nigerians," he said, adding that he "prefers leaders who speak the truth to the world instead of maligning the country."

ASA