Former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo has stated that Nigeria is not a difficult country to manage. Obasanjo was alluding to the dwindling fortune of the country, which he said predicated on the absence of quality leadership.
The former President made this disclosure while fielding questions at the maiden memorial lecture in honour of late Akintola Williams.
The theme of the lecture tagged ‘Leadership Dynamics: Current Realities And Way Forward,’ was organized by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) in Lagos.
Obasanjo, while admitting the complexities of the country, stressed that the bedrock of the growth of a nation is behest on the leadership at the helm of affairs.
He said, “I always say Nigeria is a complex country, you must understand that. But Nigeria is not a difficult country to manage. You have to be honest with yourself, Nigeria and your God.”
Obasanjo recounted his time as president of Nigeria. He asserted that he served the country with the resources available at his disposal. The former ruler claimed the country’s economy enjoyed good economic fortunes during his time.
He said, “When I was there, I did everything I should do for Nigeria and I can beat my chest and say that.
“I took over as the affairs of Nigeria as elected President with N3.7b in reserves and we were spending N3.5b to service debt. So, I decided we must get debt relief. And I went out from it even though we were fifth country in all exporting in the world and we got debt relief.
“Not only did we not get relief from a quantum debt of N3.36b. We came to a quantum debt of N3.6bn. And I left with over N25b in what we call excess crude that is the money we saved from the budget. And what we actually received and we had a reserve of over N45b,” he said
Obasanjo described the late Akintola Williams as a sage, saying he served humanity during his life time.
According to him, Williams deserves every honor that we can confer posthumously. And not for what he did for this country. But what he did politically, socially and economically.”
In his contribution, the ICAN President, Davidson Alaribe, said the lecture was organized to glean from the leadership qualities late Akintola Williams displayed while he was alive.
“Let us honor him not just with plaques and statues, but through our daily commitment to uphold the standards he set. Transforming every challenge into a steppingstone towards excellence,” he added.
source: Daily Trust
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