Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, yesterday lamented that mismanagement of resources has been Nigeria’s major problem. However, he expressed optimism that the country will be better.
“I am an incurable optimist about this country, and may be because I have seen a little bit in my short span of life, a little bit of what is possible and a little bit of what can go wrong and what can be made to go wrong. May be, that is why I am an incurable optimist and I believe that all will be well in this country, we have no choice anyway, all has to be well,” Obasanjo said at the 2015 annual summit and his 78th birthday celebration held at Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
“My concern is that we have too many think tanks, we need more of do-tanks. The point is we can do and we have no reason why we can’t do and we have also seen that one individual can make a difference.
“There is no reason why any Nigerian child, at this point in time, should not have basic education, food and nutrition, and not only Nigeria child, any Nigerian should not go to bed without food. We have the resources to achieve all that. If we are not achieving it, does not mean we don’t have the resources, it is because we haven’t managed our resources well,” the former president said.
Obasnjo further said that the issue of insecurity in the country has to be addressed from its root cause which is unemployment.
“On employment, if all other things are right, there should be no reason for any Nigerian who wants to be employed not to have the opportunity for employment. And if all those things that all these young ones are expecting are not there, in 15 years time, they will be good recruits for Boko Haram or its equivalent. Don’t let us deceive ourselves.
“You can suppress but if other things that are supposed to be there are not there, you will only suppress, sooner than later, it will rear its ugly head again, and what should be done, we should remove its root, stem and branches and I believe that too can be done,” he said.