Critics Slam Obasanjo After Blaming Nigerians For Economic Woes

Olusegun Obasanjo, a former president has blamed Nigerians for the country’s misfortunes, saying opportunities have been wasted since Nigeria gained independence in 1960.

The former leader has led the country twice first as military head of state and as a civilian president.

Not a few Nigerians blame him and other former leaders for not leading the country right.

Obasanjo and other leaders should take the blame for the backwardness that the country has experienced since she gained independence from the United Kingdom over 60 years ago.

But speaking on the current challenges facing the country, Obasanjo who spoke on Thursday at the launch of a book by the Editor-in-Chief of Premium Times, Musikilu Mojeed, titled “The Letterman: Inside the ‘Secret’ Letters of former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo” in Abuja, said the country has underperformed despite the myriads of resources available to her.

The country that was considered a ‘giant in the sun’ at independence has now become a laughing stock among the comity of nations, the former leader said.

He said Nigeria has failed the world.

Hear him, “When Nigeria became independent, it was a giant in the sun. That was the expectation. Not a giant even in Africa. A giant in the sun. That was the expectation of the world about Nigeria.

“Have we lived up to it? No. If we haven’t, why haven’t we? I think we probably don’t appreciate what we have as a country and I believe if we do appreciate it and make good use of it, we would do better than we are now.

“I believe the right lessons must be learned. We have all that we need to have; God has given us all that we need to have. That we are not doing what we should do, God is not to blame and we should blame ourselves.”

The Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, NBS said recently that over 133 million Nigerians are poor. This is in spite of billions of dollars realized from crude oil sales over the years, according to experts.

Experts claimed that funds that are supposed to be used for development have either been cornered by government officials or cronies working on their behalf.

Recently, the Accountant General of the Federation was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFFC for allegedly stealing over N100 billion belonging to the government.

Such huge funds should have been used to provide the social infrastructure that will benefit the people, according to critics who said many past governments in the country were not accountable.