Former President Olusegun Obasanjo says what was witnessed during the 2023 general elections has further divided Nigeria and wear down the nation.
He therefore called on the incoming administration to urgently facilitate the process of National moral rearmament and national reconciliation which he says must be done with national value orientation.
Obasanjo was speaking on Thursday in Abuja at a seminar tagged “From Elections to Governance & Performance” and presentation of a book titled ” The unending quest for reform: An intellectual memoir by Prof. Tunji Olaopa.
He says:” 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.
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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 be fair also defeat.
My experience and understanding however, is that the money to develop and grow our economy is out there if we provide a 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 many 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 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 Nigerian 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”.
The former President congratulated the Author of the Book Tunji Olaopa saying the memoir must find its way into all federal and state Ministries as well as the National Libraries in Nigeria considering the intellectual work done by the Author.
Other speakers at event including Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Bishop Matthew Kukah said there is need to focus more attention on governance issues if the country must get it right.
The event was organized by Nextier, a public policy firm.
