Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said that any government that doesn’t protect people and property has no reason to be in power. This is a clear sign of Nigeria’s worsening insecurity and the problems the country is having with its leaders.
Obasanjo said that Nigeria’s problems are getting worse because of bad leadership. He also said that the country has lost its power in international affairs and ruined important relationships in the region, especially within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Obasanjo also said in an interview on News Central’s Soni Irabor Live (SIL) over the weekend that Nigeria was no longer “at the table” of global decision-making. He said that the country’s inability to shape events outside of its borders shows a lack of leadership in general.
The outspoken former leader of Africa’s most populous country said that Nigerians should not accept kidnapping and other social ills as normal, pointing out how easy it used to be for people to travel across the country.
He gave the federal government a harsh review, saying that any government that doesn’t protect life and property has lost its right to exist.
Obasanjo said that Nigeria’s security problems got worse after the civil war because there wasn’t enough control over the spread of weapons. He said that bad government and lack of attention had made the problem worse since then.
He also said that both outside and inside factors were to blame for the crisis. For example, armed mercenaries came back to Libya after the fall of former leader Muammar Gaddafi, and armed groups were used for political purposes.
Obasanjo said that the rising number of children who are not in school, which is thought to be around 20 million, is a long-term security risk because it is a ready pool for future recruitment into extremist groups.
The former president said, “The other day, someone came to me and said that they were looking into the causes of insecurity at NIPSS (National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies). And I asked, “What is this about?” He said that the government told them to do this.
“I asked, “Will this government have the guts to do whatever you ask?” He said he didn’t know. And I said, “Listen, I came back to this country in 1959 after my first military training in the UK.” You could go anywhere in the North. Anyplace. And what you’ll get is people being nice there.
“And someone told me the other day that we’ve taken it (kidnapping) for granted.” It’s not news anymore. So when you hear that someone in your family has been taken, you all get together. They might let him go for N2,000. Should we accept that as the way things are? Not a chance.”
Obasanjo said, “The first duty of any government, no matter how it gets there, is to protect life and property.” If a government can’t protect its citizens’ lives and property, it doesn’t have the right to exist.
The former president was not hopeful about Nigeria’s future. When asked about the country’s future under the current leadership, he said, “I see nothing.” He said that the decline of democratic values, such as what he called the replacement of a “selectorate” for a real electorate, had made accountability and governance weaker.
Obasanjo specifically criticized how the Tinubu administration dealt with relations with Niger Republic after the recent coup there. He said the response was poorly thought out and hurt decades of regional cooperation that had been carefully built up over 50 years.
He said that Nigeria’s actions, like closing the border, cutting off electricity, and putting financial limits on the other country, hurt the long-standing historical, economic, and cultural ties between the two countries.
Obasanjo said that Nigeria and Niger had deep ties, including strong family ties across the border. He also said that working together was once very important for Nigeria’s strategic and military interests.
He said that Nigeria’s choices during the recent crisis in Niger showed that the highest levels of government don’t understand what’s going on. He said that Nigeria needs better leadership to get back on track. He said that Nigeria didn’t have to spend much money to keep its power, but it did need to be clear-headed and strategic, which he thought it wasn’t right now.
After the coup in Niger Republic, Tinubu, who was the chairman of ECOWAS, was thought to have taken a hard line, calling for sanctions, closing borders, and even threatening military action to restore constitutional order.
Critics, including Obasanjo, said that the situation was poorly handled and hurt long-standing ties with Niger, making the region less cohesive instead of strengthening ECOWAS’s authority.
Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso eventually left the group.
Obasanjo said, “Nigeria is not at the table of international politics today.” What is going on that Nigeria is having an effect on or affecting, and who is Nigeria affecting?
“Look at how we’ve dealt with ECOWAS. We worked for 50 years to make this. We messed it up overnight. And we have almost ruined it.
“It’s being a leader. There was a coup in Niger Republic. Our neighbor. At least 30% of the people in Niger Republic are related by blood to people in Nigeria.
“We were working on the Kanji Dam. Kanji would have been silly. So we told Niger Republic, “When the Kanji Dam is working, we’ll give you whatever you want for electricity.” We had to do that.
“It would have been hard for us to win the civil war without the Niger Republic. We used to get supplies from the Niger Republic to send to our troops on the front lines. Now, because of all this, they had to leave. We closed the border right away. Then we turned off their power. The next thing we did was to say, “No money.” With our borders that let things through!
Obasanjo said, “So, now you see what I meant when I said mishandling.” Being at the table doesn’t cost Nigeria much. But it needs to be understood. But, to be honest, I’m in pain. “Because I know what Nigeria could do.”
Obasanjo also said that the National Council of State (NCS), which is made up of former presidents who give advice, was not important. He said that going to its meetings was a waste of time. He said that the body was only there to give advice and that its suggestions were often ignored, which made it useless as a way to have real conversations or change policy.
The former president said again what he has always said about the economy and the oil industry: that government-owned refineries run by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) would not work well. He said that their ongoing poor performance was due to structural inefficiencies, bad maintenance, corruption, and not having enough scale.
He said that while he was in office, there were efforts to get private companies involved in running the refinery. For example, he talked to international oil companies like Shell, but they didn’t want to get involved because they were worried about making money and running the business smoothly. He also talked about a time when billionaire businessman Aliko Dangote tried to buy shares in the refineries, but his successor stopped that from happening.
Obasanjo said that the government had spent billions of dollars, up to $16 billion, on the refineries, but had little to show for it. He compared this to the success of privately run projects like the Nigeria LNG project, which he used as proof that public-private partnerships were better.
“Look at what we’re doing now, even with the NNPC.” NNPC owns refineries. And I told people that it would never work, he said.
The former president warned against the rise of a one-party state in Nigeria’s political system, saying it would hurt the country’s growth and democracy. He agreed with the president that he didn’t want a one-party state, but he still said that this kind of government would not be good for Nigeria.
Obasanjo said, “He (Tinubu) said he doesn’t want Nigeria to be a one-party state.” He said that. And, as I said, this time I will believe what he says. It will be a shame. Because it won’t even do what it was made to do.”
Obasanjo said he strongly believed that Nigeria could still get better, even though people were criticizing him. He said this was because of the country’s potential and the strength of its people.
But he stressed that real progress would only happen if there was a big change in the quality of leadership and the way the government works.
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