Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said that Nigeria leaders can take the bull by the horns, the problem facing the country will by solved.
According to him, God has given Nigeria the necessary mineral resources needed for the development of the country saying that, God is not responsible for the problems militating against the development of Nigeria.
The former President made this statement in Kaduna on Monday while chairing the 38th Kaduna International Trade Fair Seminar with the theme; ‘Promoting Public Private Partnership as Panacea for Accelerated Growth and Development’ stressing the need for Nigerians to stop blaming God for the nation’s woos.
He noted that Nigeria where it is today is a question of leadership and not God.
“God in His mercy has given us all the needed resources, both human and natural, but we have not been able to put them together and manage them effectively. The countries that have developed and are performing better are not better than Nigeria in terms of resources. the former President stressed.
According to him, the problem of Nigeria is leadership because our leaders lack focus, commitment, continuity and sometimes proper knowledge about economic and development issues, hence we have not been able to achieve meaningful result.
“Another problem is that, we take one step forward and another step backward. Nigerian leaders must be tough and ready to bite the bullet, because Nigeria cannot have it easy. Until we get the right leadership, the problem will continue”, he said.
Registering his displeasure over inconsistency in policies, Obasanjo said, “I banned importation of toothpick in 1977, because it was the most stupid thing to import when we can produce it here. But, about 40 years after, one of the Presidents that came after me, I won’t mention his name, unbanned toothpick. Then, I put on my Babanriga and went to Abuja to express my shock about the policy, but to my greatest surprise, the President told me, he signed the document unbanning toothpick without reading it.
“Another thing is that, he came in saying he will generate additional 30,000 megawatts to the 3,500 megawatts we left behind, and I told him, don’t trouble yourself, if you can add 3,000 megawatts to the one we left behind, you will receive the awards. But, to my greatest shock, he couldn’t add one (1) megawatt before leaving office”, he narrated.
On the public-private partnership, the former President emphasised that lack of synergy in public-private sectors is responsible for the set back in the nation’s economy and growth.
He said, “the public sector perceives the private sector as a profit making Industry that reaps where it does not sow, but in actual fact, they are two legs that when brought together can accelerate development in all sectors of the economy, he stressed”.
Obasanjo therefore said that, public and private sectors must work together to accelerate growth and development.
He said, “when we were in office, we privatized NNPC and sold to Dangote and partners, but the government that succeeded me revoked it and that is why till today, NNPC cannot work optimally, adding that the same Dangote that was denied ownership of NNPC is building a refinery that can produce in excess of what NNPC can produce and what Nigeria can consume. So, it means he will even export”, Obasanjo said.
Earlier in his lecture, the former Minister of Finance, Malam Shamdudeen Usman said, the reasons Nigeria is backward in economic growth and development, is the lack of continuity in governance and poor will by political leaders to complete projects started by their predecessor.
According to him, “delay in budgetary approval process and also padding of the budget attributes to the slow acceleration of growth and development experienced in the Nation”.
“Short term policies affected PPP projects across the Country due to inconsistencies in government. Though several governments gave high support to PPP, only President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration recorded about 90% completion of PPP projects and they include the Garki hospital in Abuja, Lagos International airport, Port terminals, among others, he explained”.
He however noted that, “the Jonathan administration took a huge step in adopting a 30 years National Integrated Infrastructure master plan which targets core infrastructure in the Country, but noting much has been achieved so far”, he stressed.
