FORMER president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, yesterday, dissected the state
\nof socio-economic affairs of the country, especially the initiatives of
\nthe current administration, and returned a verdict of doubt. His words:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem today is that it is doubtful if the current administrative
\nsystem is imbued with right mix of skills and values to successfully
\nimplement a well-articulated programme of change.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also averred that the country was on its way to another debt burden
\nunless the rising debts were creatively addressed.<\/p>\n
Obasanjo, who recalled how he led Nigeria to exit the Paris Club and how
\nhe pursued public service reforms, regretted that the gains he made had
\nbeen reversed.<\/p>\n
The former president made the remarks at the conference of Ibadan School
\nof Government and Public Policy, ISGPP, Ibadan, Oyo State.<\/p>\n
The former President stressed the need for government to kick out all
\nforms of corruption in the polity, provide jobs for unemployed youths and
\nbe committed to change.
\nLooming debt overhang
\nNoting that the conference was timely as the country was in search of new
\nways of doing things, given the crisis of governance that now manifests
\nin vigorous ways, Obasanjo said: \u201cThe drastic fall in the price of oil in
\nthe international market has unravelled the weakness of governance in
\nNigeria. \u201cThe Minister of Finance has recently announced that the 2016
\nBudget deficit may be increased from the current N2.2 trillion in the
\ndraft document before the National Assembly, to N3 trillion due to
\ndecline in the price of crude oil.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the current fiscal challenge is not creatively addressed, Nigeria may
\nbe on its way to another episode of debt overhang, which may not be good
\nfor the country. It will be recalled that a few years ago, we rescued
\nNigeria from its creditors with the deal in which the Paris Club of
\nsovereign creditors wrote off USD 18 billion of debt, Africa\u2019s largest
\ndebt cancellation.<\/p>\n
\u201cNigeria then used windfall earnings from oil exports to pay off another
\nUSD 12 billion in debts and arrears.<\/p>\n
Is govt working?
\n\u201cOn the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa, the hope that followed the initiative
\nof the New Partnership for Africa Development, NEPAD, and African
\nrenaissance initiatives are being threatened by developments in the global
\neconomy and governance.<\/p>\n
\u201cFalling commodity prices have put pressures on local currencies, and if
\ncaution is not taken, may lead to mounting debts. It is, indeed, proper
\nfor us in Nigeria to ask the questions: Is the government working? Is
\ngovernment positioned to deal with challenges arising from these new
\ndevelopments?<\/p>\n
\u201cThese questions are made apposite by the massive scale of poverty and
\nunemployment, the decay in infrastructure facilities, the impoverished
\nliving standards of citizens with regard to food, housing, water supply,
\neducation and healthcare which have deepened in recent years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is complicated by the protracted experience of violence and
\nbrutality, the flow of internally displaced persons, IDPs, arising from
\nthe Boko Haram insurgency in large parts of North-Eastern Nigeria where
\nmany citizens have become distressed, live in fear and insecurity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Systemic failure
\nHe continued: \u201cRecent developments in governance show the failure of
\nsystems, the disregard for institutional processes and the general
\ndecline of institutions that used to function to guarantee reasonable
\nservice delivery to citizens.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I assumed office in 1999, though I had some sense that the
\nbureaucracy of government that I left in 1979 had experienced significant
\ndecline, I only appreciated the extent of this decline after the Dr
\nChristopher Kolade Panel that I set up submitted its report.<\/p>\n
\u201cI implemented remedial measures and a reorientation programme coordinated
\nby Professor Adebayo Adedeji. I got the Management Service Office to
\nundertake and evolve a National Strategy for Public Service Reform. The
\nreform process commenced in 2003 and by 2007, significant progress had
\nbeen made.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, the evidence available today shows that those gains have
\nbeen reversed. The problem today is that it is doubtful if the current
\nadministrative system is imbued with right mix of skills and values to
\nsuccessfully implement a well-articulated programme of change.\u201d<\/p>\n
We must fight all forms of graft
\nRecalling that during his tenure, he identified corruption as the
\ngreatest single bane of our society and as one of the worst legacies of
\nmisrule and bad governance, a reason his administration set up the ICPC
\nand the EFCC to tackle it, Obasanjo lamented that things had taken a turn
\nfor the worse.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, corruption drains billions of dollars from our economy that cannot
\nafford to lose even a million dollars. It seems we are just beginning the
\nfight against corruption afresh.<\/p>\n
\u201cUntil recently, it seems corruption had returned with a vengeance, taking
\nseat at the very heart of government. I reiterate my statement in October
\nlast year during the 55th anniversary of Nigeria\u2019s independence that
\n\u2018corruption must not have a resting place within our society; we must kick
\ncorruption out because it destroys almost everything and I am not talking
\nabout corruption of money; corruption of attitude, nepotism, favouritism,
\nthey are corruption in different forms and all aspects of corruption must
\nbe kicked out of our society.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leadership must be committed to change
\n\u201cNow, given these governance challenges and our experience with reform, it
\nis clear that change doesn\u2019t just happen, there must be a basis for
\nchange. Leadership has to be committed to change. Beginning with the
\nreality of the budget, there is need for sober reflection. Rebuilding the
\nfoundations of governance involved paying attention to values, principles
\nand practices that promote hard work, innovation and sacrifice.<\/p>\n
\u201cLeaders who call for sacrifice from the citizenry cannot be living in
\nobscene opulence. We must address these foundational issues to make the
\neconomy work, to strengthen our institutions, build public confidence in
\ngovernment and deal with our peace and security challenges. We must
\naddress the issue of employment for our teeming population, particularly
\nfor our youths.<\/p>\n
\u201cLeadership must mentor the young and provide them with hope about their
\nfuture as part of a process of inter-generational conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lambasts govs over LG funds
\n\u2026Anyaoku wants six geo-political zones made federating units<\/p>\n
The former president also lambasted some state governors who he said had
\nturned themselves to emperors in their various states, mismanaging funds
\nmeant for local councils.<\/p>\n
Lamenting the pitiable conditions of teeming masses in the councils, he
\nsaid: \u201cIs there any development going on in the 774 constitutionally
\nrecognised local government councils?<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, we have a situation where some governors have become sole
\nadministrators, acting like emperors. These governors have rendered public
\ninstitutions irrelevant and useless in the manner they starve local
\ngovernments their legitimate funds from the federation account.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen governors take their money, the chairmen of councils take the
\nbalance of the money and put it on the table and share it out among the
\ncouncil members. In some states, governors have hijacked the resources of
\nlocal governments and expended them to serve their whims and caprices
\ninstead of using these resources to galvanise growth and development\u201d.<\/p>\n
Chief Obasanjo who later visited the Olubadan- designate, High Chief Saliu
\nAdetunji in his residence, spoke extensively as the chairman of the
\noccasion.<\/p>\n
Chief Emeka Anyaoku, a former Commonwealth Secretary-General expressed
\ndisapproval over the lopsided federal structure and situation in which
\nmany of the states are hovering on the brink of bankruptcy.<\/p>\n
Anyaoku said: \u201cInstead of the structure of 36 unhealthy states the country
\ncurrently has, the National Assembly should convert the six geo-political
\nzones to federating unit while the 36 states remain administrative units.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
FORMER president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, yesterday, dissected the state of socio-economic affairs of the country, especially the initiatives of the current administration, and returned a verdict of doubt. His words:…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45973,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n