- Says we’re more divided now
- FG spending like drunken sailor
* I’m too old to keep quiet, he stresses
By Chesa Chesa
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Thursday took a long look at the state of the nation and concluded that Nigeria is presently more divided and corroded than what leaders of thought had in mind, especially following the 2023 general elections.
He bared his mind as guest of honour at a public lecture tagged ‘From Elections to Governance and Performance’, organised by public policy firm, Nextier, in Abuja.
Nextier also used the opportunity to showcase the public presentation of a book, “The Unending Quest for Reform: An Intellectual Memoir”, authored by Professor Tunji Olaopa, a retired senior bureaucrat and intellectual, who was in service during Obasanjo’s tenure.
Obasanjo said that with the current state of affairs, the priority for an adminstration that succeeds Muhammadu Buhari, is national reconciliation, to assuage the feelings of aggrieved Nigerians, particularly the youth population.
He also criticised the growing debt profile and expenditure spree of the current government, saying it is “spending like a drunken sailor”.
The ex-President who recently wrote to the British government appealing for leniency on behalf of the ex-Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu and his wife convicted organ harvesting in London, said he was now too old to keep quiet over unfolding events in Nigeria.
Obasanjo however advised that for reforms to take root, there must be political will and concerted effort to implement them by all stakeholders in Nigeria.
According to him, governance in Nigeria now calls for thinking outside the box in terms of development financing, which has become inevitable in the face of Nigeria’s dwindling fortunes in oil revenue, huge foreign indebtedness and the urgency of diversifying the nation’s neo-cultural economy.
His words: “Let me suggest three ideas that I think can enrich the direction of the conversation here today.
“One, given what we saw during the election, Nigeria is now even more divided and more corroded than we thought. This places a deep onus on any administration following the current one, to urgently facilitate the process of national moral rearmament and national reconciliation that the potential will enhance skilled for the aggrieved and will lead us across Nigeria and to assuage the youth.
“This must be done in sync with the imperative of national value orientation that Nigeria requires to build a collective sense of enduring and local values and national belonging.
“Two, governance in Nigeria now calls for thinking outside the box in terms of development financing, this has become inevitable in the face of Nigeria’s dwindling fortune, in oil revenue, Nigeria’s huge foreign indebtedness and the urgency of diversifying the Nigeria’s neocultural economy.
“We cannot be spending like drunken sailor on frivolities and corruption and expect development and growth. such situation cannot take us into the fourth industrial revolution already underway or even the fifth.
“My experience and understanding however, is that the money to develop and grow our economy is out there if we provide conducive environment for it to come and stay.
“Three, political will. Political action and administrative efforts must be invested on reforming the public service into a capability ready institution that could enable Nigeria development agenda beyond 2023.
“All of these and more are necessary to correct and not to repeat the sickening and painful show of shame which the elections of 2023 generated into.
“Let me conclude by stating clearly that I am now too old to keep quiet and watch Nigeria seemingly clueless launch into dystopia. All efforts are now required from all well-meaning and committed patriots to rescue the nation from the precipice. And when I look at the audience I have a feeling that among the people who can do it and who must do it are some of you here.
“It has become my own personal obligation, continuing in my relentless service as a letterman, dedicated in my twilight years to say the truth, as I see it, so as to push Nigeria, in the direction of our collective aspirations. What is our collective aspiration? A better society where all Nigerians can become what the Almighty God destined to be.
“At times like this, some of us have to adopt the attitude of being known to be blind and not being afraid of the dark. But we must continually work for the light of all.”
Founding partner at Nextier SPD, Patrick Okigbo III, while interacting with journalists at the event, noted that reforming the civil service was necessary to drive electoral programmes and promises that would better the lot of all Nigerians.
According to him, it is one thing to have a political will as a leader and another thing entirely to translate the will into actionable projects, which is what reform is all about.
Okigbo said: “Every four years, we go to elections, politicians make promises of what they want to do and at the end of the day, not a lot happens. It is not because these politicians are bad people, it is not because they do not want to do stuff, it is basically because all the electoral promises will have to be delivered by the public service, the civil servants, the political appointees.
“If the civil service does not have the capacity to deliver on these promises, they will remain mere promises, so what we are attempting to do here is to convene leading scholars, leading practitioners, leading policy advocates, development partners etc to say what is the pathway for reforming Nigeria’s public service. Tunji Olaopa, the author of the book is one of the most prolific writers on public service reforms.
“I think we have kind of mystified political will, we have created a myth around political will and I give you an example. President Muhammadu Buhari can decide that he wants to do XYZ, what he should do is to discuss with Ministers at FEC and give an instruction to get it done, who then takes it from that point, when a presidential directive has been issued, it is the civil service.
“The President is not the holy spirit, he cannot be everywhere as there are only 24 hours in a day. By the way I am not making excuses for him. I am just saying that even after you bring the political will, it is not enough.
“What you need is an institution that has the capacity to deliver on those promises or programmes.”
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