Obasanjo to Elite: Rescue Nigeria from the precipice

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has called on well-meaning and committed Nigerians to take up the gauntlet of rescuing the nation from the precipice.

He said he could not sit back and watch Nigeria seemingly clueless, launch into dystopia even in his old age.

“I am now too old to keep quiet and watch Nigeria seemingly clueless launch into dystopia. All efforts are now required from all well-meaning and committed patriots to rescue the nation from the precipice.

“And when I look at the audience I have a feeling that among the people who can do it and who must do it are some of you here.

“It has become my own personal obligation, continuing in my relentless service as letterman, dedicated in my twilight years to say the truth, as I see it, so as to push Nigeria in the direction of our collective aspirations.

“What is our collective aspiration? a better society where all Nigerian can become what the Almighty God destined to be.

“At times like this, some of us have to adopt the attitude of being known to be blind and not being afraid of the dark but we must continually work for the light of all,” Obasanjo said in Abuja on Thursday.

He spoke at the public presentation of a book, “From Elections To Governance & Performance: “The unending quest for reform”, –an intellectual memoir, written” by Prof.Tunji Olaopa.

On the state of the nation, Obasanjo said Nigeria is more divided than ever before the 2023 general elections and called for national reconciliation, peace and cohesion.

This, he said, will help to assuage and pacify the aggrieved and the youths for national peace and cohesion.

According to the elder statesman, he is too old to keep quiet on national issues without contributing to national discourse.

Obasanjo, who was president from 1999 to 2007, however, offered three suggestions moving forward as a nation.

“One, given what we saw during the election, Nigeria is now even more divided and more corroded than we thought.

“This places a deep onus on any administration following the current one, to urgently facilitate the process of national moral rearmament and national reconciliation for the aggrieved and will lead us across Nigeria and to assuage the youth.

“This must be done in sync with the imperative of national value orientation that Nigeria requires to build a collective sense of enduring and local values and national belonging.

“Two, governance in Nigeria now calls for thinking outside the box in terms of development financing, this has become inevitable in the face of Nigeria’s dwindling fortune, in oil revenue, Nigeria’s huge foreign indebtedness and the urgency of diversifying the Nigeria’s neocultural economy.

“We cannot be spending like drunken sailor on frivolities and corruption and expect development and growth. Such a situation cannot take us into the fourth industrial revolution already underway.

“My experience and understanding however is that the money to develop and grow our economy is out there if we provide conducive environment for it to come and stay.

“Three, political will, political action and administrative efforts must be invested on reforming the public service into a capability ready institution that could enable Nigeria development agenda beyond 2023,” Obasanjo also said.

“All of these and more are necessary to correct the situation and not to repeat the sickening and painful show of shame which the elections of 2023 degenerated into.”

To the author, the one-time President congratulated for his contributions to the Nigerian public service and for adding the significant intellectual memoir to his huge collection of publications.

“This memoir must find its way into all federal and state ministries as well as the National Library of Nigeria.

“Of course, it must become one item on the fundamental reading list of all serious minded Nigerians, development worker, public manager, policymakers, development theorists, planners and administrative scholars,” Obasanjo said.