Former President Olusegun Obasanjo says Nigeria has no excuse for widespread poverty, considering the country’s wealth of natural resources.
Speaking at a dinner in his honour hosted by the Abia State Government at the Government House in Umuahia on Friday, Obasanjo blamed poor leadership and mismanagement for the nation’s struggles.
“Nigerians have no business with poverty because God has given us all that we need. If we are mismanaging what God has given us, we do not have God to blame, we have ourselves to blame,” he said.
He praised Governor Alex Otti’s leadership in Abia State, noting that the governor’s performance has earned him praise across the country.
Obasanjo encouraged him to keep up the good work, adding that if Nigeria had 18 governors doing well in their responsibilities as leaders, “we will build the country up”.
The former president also stressed that his main concern has always been the welfare of Nigerians.
“For me, whether you don’t greet me or I greet you and you don’t answer, what is important to me is that the people of this country are getting what they deserve and what they deserve is good governance,” he said.
He shared a past experience involving former Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi, recalling how he advised him to look into an existing national railway development plan.
Obasanjo said, “I believe that even if you don’t like me if I have pieces of advice to give you, as I did when you were Minister for Transport, I will give the advice.
“You didn’t know that we had a national plan for railway for this country, to reach every state capital as we have them now and I told you to go into the archives, it is there. But again, I believe as Minister of Transport, you got a bit of it right, you got a bit of it wrong.”
KanyiDaily recalls that Olusegun Obasanjo recently expressed his disappointment with current global and Nigerian leadership, describing it as ineffective and lacking direction.
