Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said that Nigeria’s challenges can be overcome with effective leadership.
News About Nigeria reports he also said that the country’s complexity requires a deep understanding to govern successfully.
Speaking on Wednesday in Lagos at a memorial lecture honoring the late Akintola Williams, titled “Leadership Dynamics: Current Realities and Way Forward.”
The event was organized by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, ICAN, in Lagos.
“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 said.
During his presidency, Obasanjo claimed to have made significant progress, utilising available resources to drive economic growth.
He reflected on his time in office, adding that he made the most of the resources at his disposal.
Obasanjo 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 the affairs of Nigeria as elected president with N3.7 billion in reserves and we were spending N3.5 billion to service debt, so I decided we must seek debt relief and I went out for it, even though we were the fifth country in all exporting in the world and we got debt relief.
“Not only did we get relief from a quantum debt of N3.36 billion, we came to a quantum debt of N3.6 billion and I left with over N25 billion 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 N45 billion,”
Obasanjo described the late Akintola Williams as a visionary who made significant contributions to humanity.
“He deserves every honour that we can confer posthumously, not for what he did for this country but what he did politically, socially, and economically.”
