Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has urged Nigerian leaders to place effective governance and the welfare of citizens at the heart of their leadership priorities.
Obasanjo stated at the Government House Umuahia , during a dinner organised in his honour by the Abia Government, which ended late on Friday night.
The former President while reflecting on Nigeria’s economic potential, lamented the persistence of poverty despite the country’s abundant natural and human resources.
“Nigerians have no business with poverty because God has given us all that we need.
“If we are mismanaging what God has given us, we do not have God to blame, we have ourselves to blame”, Obasanjo stated.
He commended the performance of Governor Alex Otti of Abia State, describing him as a leader who is living up to expectations in the delivery of good governance.
The Elder Statesman while noting the wide public acclaim of Governor Otti’s performance, affirmed that he had personally witnessed the Governor’s impact on governance in the state and urged him to continue to do well.
“Gov Alex Otti, everybody is saying you are doing well and I am a witness to the fact that you are doing well but what is important to me is that you continue to do well”, he said.
Obasanjo also said that he strongly believes that if Nigeria had 18 governors doing well in their responsibilities as leaders in their states “we will build the country up”.
He said that his concern does not lie in personal relationships or formalities, but in the well-being of Nigerians and the quality of governance they receive.
“For me, whether you don’t greet me or I greet you and you don’t answer, what is important to me is that the people of this country are getting what they deserve and what they deserve is good governance”, he said.
Obasanjo while highlighting the importance of continuity in national planning, recalled an earlier advise he gave former Minister of Transport, Mr Rotimi Amaechi during his tenure in office concerning a national railway masterplan designed to connect all state capitals.
“I believe that even if you don’t like me, if I have pieces of advice to give you, as I did when you were Minister for Transport ,I will give the advice.
“You didn’t know that we had a national plan for railway for this country, to reach every state capital as we have them now and I told you to go into the archives, it is there.
“We made the plan then and that we would do it in 25 years; of course, maybe now we will not do it in 50 years. But again, I believe as Minister of Transport, you got a bit of it right, you got a bit of it wrong”, he said.
In his speech, Governor Otti who acknowledged the support he received from the former president noted that the importance of vision and perseverance in leadership could never be over looked.
The Governor recounted the challenges he faced over his decade-long political journey to become Governor of the state.
“Once you have vision, you have to keep to it. It took us ten years to get here, the two elections we contested from 2015 to 2019,we won clearly but they were all stolen.
“A lot of people had given up hope and said it wasn’t going to work, but I was sure that I heard clearly from God”, Otti said.
The Governor who used the opportunity to give a scorecard on his administrations achievement in the Education sector, said that he embarked on massive reforms in the sector to improve access to quality education in Abia.
Also, the Former Minister of Transport, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, called on political actors in Abia to begin early preparations for the 2027 general elections.
According to him the value of a good administration is often only realised after a less competent one takes over.
He pointed out that this had become the experience with many former leaders, but Obasanjo had continually stood out because of his visionary leadership style.
“In your case, no matter who becomes president, you have always stood out”, Amaechi said.
He described quality leadership as crucial for development adding that in order not to experience its absence, the people of Abia must support capable leaders like Otti in the next elections.
“We must not only protect what we have but also ensure that we come back in 2028 to celebrate true democratic success”, he added
In their separate speeches, the lawmaker representing Isiala Ngwa North and South Federal Constituency, Chief Ginger Onwusibe and the acting National Secretary of Labour Party, Sen. Darlington Nwokocha, expressed delight in being part of Abia’s success story.
They thanked former President Obasanjo for his continued support for the Otti-led administration and commended the Governor for the equitable developmental strides across the 17 Local Government Areas of the State.
