The people arguing that Nigeria is doing well under President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, no doubt, require psychiatric examination to ascertain their true state of mental health, former President Olusegun Obasanjo has declared.
Obasanjo spoke as the special guest of honour at the Wilson Badejo Foundation’s 15th annual lecture under the theme – ‘Overcoming the twin challenges of poverty and insecurity in Nigeria’- in Lagos.
He said generally, Nigeria has not taken its rightful position, but it became worse and much more unbearable under President Buhari, on account of poverty and insecurity.
The former President said: “Nigeria is not where it is supposed to be today. If anyone says it is okay where we are at the moment, then the person’s head needs to be examined.
“My friend, late Ahmed Joda, used to tell me that God has given us everything a nation needs and there’s no need for prayers because if God has given you everything and you squandered it, then something is wrong.
“I told him that even at that, we still need prayers as a nation because what is good needs prayers and on the other side too, we still need more prayers.”
Obasanjo also spoke on the need for right choice in leadership position, saying if Nigeria makes the right choice in the 2023 general election, the nation may witness progress once again.
He said: “It is inevitable we make the right choice in 2023 because if we make the right choice, we would get there.
“However, if we do not make the right choice in 2023, things would consume us all, and we pray against getting to that. We must make the right choice in 2023.”
The guest speaker who is also the Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Prof Eghosa Osaghae, in his lecture titled ‘Overcoming the twin challenge of poverty and insecurity in Nigeria,’ said: “Corruption, by whatever means, is what causes poverty, division and everything unbecoming.
“For instance, many people today dig their boreholes for water, employ private security units, etc, yet, these are things that the state should have put in place.”