Former
President Olusegun Obasanjo at the weekend scored Nigeria below average on
leadership index, lamenting that Nigeria could not continue the way it is. He
said leadership is very important in any country expressing worries that there
are no good leaders in the country.
Obasanjo
who was military head of state between 1976 and 1979 and civilian president
for two terms between 1999 and 2007 said leadership problem was something
that had to be addressed saying ‘’we cannot continue the way it is’’. He adds:
‘’In Nigeria, with due respect, there are not many good leaders in Nigeria. We
have many Nigerians and not good leaders in Nigeria which can be extended to
Africa’’. The elder statesman who turns 76 on Tuesday spoke yesterday in
Abeokuta, Ogun State capital during the African Regional Inter collegiate
Debate on Human Security.
The
former president described democracy as a form of government that allows
a country to deliberate on issues that are pertinent to her. ‘’We have problems
of job creation, employment generation and wealth creation, it doesn’t matter
who emerge as winner of the debate; to me, all aspects of education must be
embraced.” He recalled how the Chairman, Dangote Group, Chief Aliko
Dangote told him that he received six Ph.D holders and over 600 people with
Masters Degrees during his recruitment for truck drivers. While linking the
issue to problems of job creation, wealth creation, among others, he
added: ‘’ if all of us are doctors, there will be no engineers.
He
reiterated his stance on the need for any professional group holding the
country to ransom by embarking on strike. ‘’If undertakers decide to proceed on
strike like the doctors did then, the country would have faced problem of
epidemic’’, he said. Obasanjo, who also spoke on the importance of education
said: “if you want to break the irk of poverty, education is the instrument to
do that. Yorubas say three generations don’t go into chronic poverty.” He said
the debate was to prepare the youth for the future, saying: “the future belong
to the youth because nobody can help Africa than we Africans.”
Source: Sun
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