Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has stated that the
President Muhammadu Buhari-led government is driving Nigeria towards “disaster
and instability”.
Obasanjo, in an interview with Premium Times, noted that
although the country had made considerable progress since the new dispensation
began in 1999, the current pace was poor.
He said: “I think we have no choice but to be on the path
for sustainable development. The progress we are making may be questionable. Is
it fast enough? Is it steady enough? Is it stable enough? Are we taking two
steps forward and one step back or one step side-way?
“You can question that, but we have no choice but to be on
(the) path for sustainable development. Any other thing will be a disaster. In
fact, the pace at which we are going now is tending more and more toward
disaster and instability and unsustainability.
“The problem is that we are just not doing what we should be
doing. Nobody has that confidence, and we cannot develop Nigeria without that
confidence in our economy. Both for domestic investors and foreign investors.”
Obasanjo argued that the present government that claims to
be fighting corruption has “corrupted” the anti-graft agencies his government
put in place.
“I set up two (anti-corruption) institutions,” he said.
“I came with two laws that were not there before, to fight
corruption. And those who claim they are fighting corruption today have not
brought in anything different. If anything, they have corrupted those two
institutions.
“And the institutions were open and independent. I never,
never, as president had to say to either the head of ICPC or EFCC: ‘Oh, chase
this person’.
“Nigeria was a pariah state. Within the first four years
(1999-2003)… we actually hosted the commonwealth. And Nigeria which was kicked
out of the Commonwealth became the host of a Commonwealth Head of Governments
Meeting (CHOGOM). We became the darling of almost all nations. The economy
started doing well.
“I remember on one occasion one day or one week, Chukwuma
Soludo (then governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria) phoned me and said: “Sir,
in one day, we had an inflow of $80 million”. From foreign direct flow; not
money from our oil export or cocoa export. Just direct! And he (Soludo) said to
me: “Sir, this is almost unbelievable.
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