Olusegun Obasanjo, a former president of Nigeria, has lamented the nation’s failure to live up to expectations since gaining independence 63 years ago. He emphasized that Nigeria had let not only Africa and the rest of the world down, but also itself.
Olusegun Aganga, a former minister of industry, trade, and investment who previously served as minister of finance, wrote the book titled “Reclaiming the Jewel of Africa,” which Obasanjo mentioned during his keynote speech at the event.
President Bola Tinubu presented the book through his Special Advisor on Monetary Policy, Olawale Edun. A significant number of previous and present top government officials attended the Abuja event where former Presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Obasanjo delivered virtual speeches.
In his address at the programme, Obasanjo said, “Over the last 63 years, we have not lived up to expectations. We have disappointed ourselves; we have disappointed Africa; we have disappointed the black race; and we have disappointed the world.”
He, however, stated that “what Segun (Aganga) has tried to identify, itemise and recommend in his book is the way forward.
“But the beginning of charting a new course for ourselves is to admit our failure because we have not always put the round peg in the round hole.
“We are carried along by ego and emotion of self, selfishness and self-centeredness, ethnic and religious jingoism, with total lack of understanding of the world we live in and gross misunderstanding of what development entails and how to move fast and continuously on the trajectory of development.”
The former President further identified two of the major issues that were interrelated in terms of factors for all-round development.
“These are peace and security, which we cannot achieve without justice, equity and inclusive society. And telling ourselves the truth, we have not done well on these scores in the recent past—in the last decade and a half.
“I will also point at the issue of education, where over 20 million children that should be in school are not in school. We do not need an oracle to tell us the consequences of that for tomorrow,” Obasanjo stated.
He said the skill acquisition, empowerment and employment of youth would seem to be ignored or not appreciated.
“We do not need to look far for the remote causes of banditry, Boko Haram, kidnapping and other organised crimes.
“We are living dangerously on a keg of gunpowder, driving more people into poverty through good policies poorly and thoughtlessly implemented or bad policy and no policy at all,” he stated.
