He said though subsidy removal and the government’s forex policy were
desirable, they were poorly handled by the government.
The former president observed at a colloquium,” Nigeria’s Development:
Navigating the Way Out of the Current Economic Crisis and Insecurity”
delivered at the Paul Aje Colloquium, tPAC, in Abuja weekend.
However, efforts made to get reactions from the President’s Media office were
unsuccessful but a Presidency source simply said: “It is his personal opinion,
he is entitled to that but we don’t want to reply to him.”
But Obasanjo also took a swipe at those against his position on the
much-touted refurbished refinery in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, describing
them as “sycophants and spin doctors”.
He declared that such people failed to remember that the attempt made in 2007
to partly privatise the refineries was made him, after a thorough study of the
situation, hence his knowledge and better understanding of the situation
before making his decision late last year.
On what could be described as his position on 365 days of President Bola Ahmed
Tinubu’s administration, the former president also spoke on ways out of the
situation in the country, including a 25-year development agenda.
He said: “Today, the government has taken three decisions, two of which are
necessary but wrongly implemented and have led to impoverishment of the
economy and Nigerians. These are the removal of subsidies, closing the gap
between the black market and official rates of exchange and the third is
dealing with the military coup in Niger Republic.
“The way forward is production and productivity which belief and trust in
government leadership will engender. No shortcut to economic progress but hard
work and sweat.
‘Economy doesn’t obey orders’
“Economy does not obey orders, not even military orders. I know that. If we
get it right, we will begin to see the light beyond the tunnel in two years.
It requires a change of characteristics, attributes and attitudes by the
leadership at all levels to gain the confidence and trust of investors who
have alternatives.
“TotalEnergy has gone to invest $6 billion in Angola, instead of Nigeria. If
the truth must be stated, the present administration has not found the right
way to handle the economy to engender confidence and trust for investors to
start trooping in.
“They know us more than we know ourselves. And now they are laughing at us,
not taking us seriously. We have to present ourselves in such a way that we
will be taken seriously. If existing investors are divesting and going out of
our country, how do we persuade new investors to rush in?
‘’We can be serious if we choose to be, but we need to change from
transactional leadership in government to transformational and genuine servant
leadership.
“With change by us, the investors will give us the benefit of the doubt, and
security is taken care of on a sustainable, long-term basis, they will start
to test the waters. With the right economic policies, attribute of integrity
and honesty of purpose, all should be well, with all hands on deck and the
government become a catalyst for development, growth and progress.
“Tinkering with the exchange rate is not the answer. The answer is consistency
and continuity in policy to ensure stability and predictability. That way, we
will be sure to incentivize domestic and foreign investment.
‘’There must be honesty and transparency in government dealings and contracts
and not lying with deception about these issues. When the government is seen
as pursuing the right policy, the private sector will go for production and
productivity.”
Change is possible but it must begin with the leadership
The former president’s reaction to the refinery issue is coming six months
after the claim that the refinery would begin operation in January.
He noted that to get out of the current situation of the country, the
government and the governed needed to look at the past and the present, and
ask: How did we get here?.
Obasanjo said further: “Looking at the topic of today’s occasion, the question
I would ask is, how do we navigate our way out of these crises and pave the
path towards a more secure and prosperous Nigeria?
‘’I believe the answer to this requires a multi-faceted approach that
addresses the root causes of these challenges. The central questions are:
where were we? And how did we get to where we are today?
“Firstly, we must know where we are coming from. Our economy has consistently
suffered from poor policies, lack of long-term, sustainable policies,
discontinuity, ad hoc arrangement and corruption firmed on personal greed,
avarice, incompetence, lack of knowledge and understanding and lack of
patriotism.
“For instance, the statement and proposed actions given forty-five years ago
to stop fuel scarcity is the same statement and action being touted today. I
recall when I made the statement that the refineries will not work, the
sycophants and spin doctors of this current administration went out to
castigate me as not being a petroleum engineer and that I did not know what I
was talking about.
“They forgot that the attempt that was made in 2007 to partly privatise the
refineries was made by me after a thorough study of the situation. But the
decision was reversed by my successor and the $750 million paid was refunded.”
On a way out, the former President said the country needed a 25-year
socio-economic development agenda that would be generally agreed to by all
political parties and passed into law by the National Assembly, with State
Assembly aspects also passed into law by State Houses of Assembly.
‘’We take up the implementation on a five-year basis. In reality, that plan
will have the effect of almost a Constitution. The first priority in the
implementation will be education for all.
‘’The second should be food and nutrition security through agribusiness. The
third should be energy for all. The fourth should be industrialization and
manufacturing. And the fifth should be science, technology, innovation and
Artificial Intelligence, AI.
‘’In all these, the government should provide a conducive environment for the
private sector to operate and thrive. And where the government will be
involved at all, other than as a policymaker and enabler, it should be based
on private public partnership with the government as a junior partner.
On the security, “we need stick and carrot approach. Stick to deal with those
who cannot be weaned out of criminality and evil deeds and for those weaned,
they should be rehabilitated. There should be no Nigerian without being in
school compulsorily for eleven years – secondary education level.
“Employment must be a right for all Nigerians from age 18 years to 65 years.
With such a carrot in position, the stick must then be made more severe for
criminals. Five years must be set out to ensure that every Nigerian child who
is not in school is in school and no one is left out of popular education.
Adult education should be embarked upon to give every Nigerian basic education
equivalent to six years of formal education. We should give ourselves ten
years to rid Nigeria of illiteracy. No matter what we do, if we do not find a
way of educating, giving skills and empowerment, over 20 million Nigerian
children that are out of school today will end up being rich recruitment
centres for drug addicts, Boko Haram, bandits and other social misfits.
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