Obasanjo meets women leaders, blasts Jonathan.

Former President Olusegun
Obasanjo has said the country is
currently facing economic
problems due to the failure of the
Goodluck Jonathan administration
to plan for a rainy day.
He told Iyalodes and eminent
women leaders from the South-
West, who visited him at his
Hilltop residence in Abeokuta, Ogun
State, that the nation’s reserves
which as of 2007 stood at $67bn had
been depleted by the Federal
Government.
The former President was
responding to a call by the
delegation led by the Iyalode of
Yorubaland, Chief Alaba Lawson,
and the Iyaloja General of Nigeria,
Chief Folashade Tinubu-Ojo, to
lend his voice to the socio-
economic crisis rocking the country.
Stressing that the country did not
deserve the situation it currently
finds itself, Obasanjo vowed that he
would not keep quiet until the
right things were done.
He said, “When I was leaving office
about eight years ago, I left a very
huge reserve after we had paid all
our debts.
“Almost $25bn we kept in what
they called Excess Crude Account, it
was the excess from the budget we
were saving as reserve for a rainy
day.
“When we left in May 2007, the
reserve was said to have risen to
$35bn. But today, that reserve has
been depleted.
“After paying our debts which was
about $40bn, including debt
forgiveness, the remaining (debt)
was not more than $3bn.
“Our reserves after we had paid off
these debts amounted to about
$45bn. As I said, they continued to
rise till the end of 2007. I heard that
the reserves increased to almost
$67bn before the end of the year.
“Our reserves now, I learnt, stand at
only $30bn.”
Although he noted that the slump
in oil price would naturally have a
negative impact on a monolithic
economy like Nigeria, Obasanjo
said that “ anyone who is wise
enough should know that since we
depend on just one mineral
resource and since we have no
control over its pricing, we should
be planning for this type of
situation we currently find
ourselves and the way out of it.”
The former President lamented
that “our inability to have healthy
reserves had brought us to “this
economic quagmire.”
He added, “A leader must be
forward-looking and plan ahead. At
the beginning of last year, the
budget was based on $78 per
barrel. That year, the Federal
Government spent more on
recurrent expenditure and a little
on capital expenditure.”
Obasanjo also pointed out that the
devaluation of the naira had
unleashed other consequences on
the economy.
He said, “That (devaluation) is why
the naira has been falling against
the dollar. What would now
happen? I learnt if you want to buy
a dollar now, it’s about N192 or
N195. What it means is this, what
you had been buying for N150 to a
dollar, now you need N192 or N195
to buy it.
“That is the real situation. Is there
any remedy? There is but it does
not come overnight because it
means we have to give up all the
bad things we had been doing.”
The Ogun State-born former Head
of State also berated the
leadership for robbing Nigeria of its
God-ordained greatness.
He said,”God made Nigeria a great
nation. Is it that those living here
have no brain? Is it that the leaders
are not thinking? Or that we don’t
have the resources?
“When I was in the army, our slogan
was, ‘There are no bad soldiers but
bad officers.’ Wherever soldiers are
not doing well, blame the officers.
The same thing obtains in the
family, communities, towns and the
nation.
The former President, who also
denied quarrelling with Jonathan,
told the Iyalodes and eminent
women leaders that he was
surprised to have read in a
newspaper on Monday that some
people in government were jittery
on learning of their visit.
“Is (it) that Jonathan and I are not in
good terms?, he asked and
immediately provided an answer
himself. He said, “There is nothing
as such. I have no grudges against
Jonathan and I think Jonathan
equally has no grudges against me.
I’m not quarrelling with Jonathan
but all I know is that whatever is
good for Nigeria, that I’m ready to
die for.
“I emphasise that whatever is good
for Nigeria, is what I’m ready to
defend with my life. Whoever, I
emphasise, whoever says he would
not do anything good for Nigeria,
even if he says he’s ready to go
‘koko bellow,’ I’m ready to square
it up with such a person.
“I say again, whoever that person
may be, I want you to get that
correctly. If this country is going to
change for the better, it must start
from the top and if it’s going to be
otherwise, it must start from the
top too.
“I have had some little experience
about this country. I was a Head of
State and a President; so what is
left? If I talk, I know what I’m
talking about. Whoever wants,
should listen to me and whoever
feels otherwise, may turn a deaf
ear. But when I’m talking, I’m
talking with my understanding and
intellect.
“I’m drawing from my experience
and from what I’ve learnt with
others and from other countries
and fellow eminent citizens of the
world that I relate with.”
Obasanjo frowned on the alleged
impunity being perpetuated under
the current administration,
warning leaders of the
consequences of such actions.
He said, “God put you in a
position for a purpose and if you
fail, you will give account to God. It
was Prophet Samuel that God sent
to anoint Saul to be a king. When
he misbehaved, it was the same
God that sent Prophet Samuel to
the house of Jesse to anoint
another king.
“But when Samuel got to Jesse’s
house, he was attracted by the
physical and outward appearance
of Eliab. But God told him, he was
looking at outward appearance
whereas He was looking at the
heart. We must not keep quiet
concerning this nation.”
On the general elections, Obasanjo
said he had no apprehension,
stressing that the country would
survive just as it did during crises
such as Operation wetie, the 1966
coup and the civil war.
He said, “The 1964 election led to
Operation Wetie. I saw people
being slaughtered . There were
also the 1966 coup, the 1966
progrom and the civil war. We
survived them. Then, there was
(Sani) Abacha period. We also we
survived it.”
Operation wetie was the political
crises that erupted in the defunct
Western Region after the 1965
regional elections. It was
characterised by the wetting of
political opponents and their
followers with petrol and setting
them ablaze.
Obasanjo recalled that when he
was about to contest the
presidential election in 1999, he
was told that it would end up like
the botched polls by the Ibrahim
Babangida and Abacha juntas.
“They said that Abubakar
Abdulsalami was also out to
deceive us. Some people said after
me, there would be no Nigeria
again; But, after me, there have
been two presidents .The God we
serve is God of Nigeria.”
On the solution to unemployment
in the country, he advised the
government to turn to agriculture
instead of laying emphasis on oil
and gas.
He advised, “If we are going to
solve unemployment problem, it is
through agric business and not
through oil and gas. We have no
alternative.
“Agriculture is renewable because
the land can be used over and over
again, but, once you lift a barrel of
oil, it is gone forever.’’
Obasanjo also advised the women
and other Nigerians to vote for
candidates with good track records
and not those making empty
promises.
“Good governance starts with the
selection and voting of good
leaders. Don’t lose your votes. Ask
questions. What are their track
records? Pay less attention to what
they are saying, look out for what
they had done.”
On his membership of the ruling
Peoples Democratic Party,
Obasanjo said, “I am still in the
PDP , though not active. With the
kind of people and behaviours I see
in the party, I don’t think I can stand
before God and defend them.”
Obasanjo had in an 18-page open
letter to Jonathan in December
2013, accused Jonathan of
promoting deceit, corruption and
mutual distrust ahead of national
interest.
He said in the letter titled “Before it
is too late” that in spite of his
previous letters which were
neither acknowledged nor
responded to, he was again
constrained to warn the President
that dangers were lurking in the
corner should he fail to heed his
advice.
At the public presentation of a book
by a former Chairman of the
Independent Corrupt Practices and
Other–Related Offences
Commission, Justice Mustapha
Akanbi(retd.) in Novemeber 2014,
Obasanjo again accused Jonathan
and the National Assembly of
promoting corruption and poor
governance in the country.
He also upbraided the President by
describing him as an incompetent
leader during the public
presentation of his three-part
autobiography My Watch on
December 9, 2014.
He rated the Jonathan
administration as colossal failure,
grounded by ineptitude.