Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said that the faulty system and unhealthy institutions being operated in Nigeria would have handicapped the likes of Akinwunmi Adesina, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Amina Mohammed, Mohammed Barkindo, Benedict Oramah and other Nigerians that are performing wonders in multilateral agencies and in foreign land.
Obasanjo, who spoke at the unveiling of a book in his honour entitled: “The Man, The General, The President”, written by Femmy Carrena, a former aide of Obasanjo, at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) in Abeokuta, Ogun State, on Thursday, said Nigeria was structured in such a way that it would be difficult for any Nigerians to succeed working for the country and serving Nigeria diligently.
“We have great Nigerians, why do Nigerians blossom outside Nigeria. As of today we have five Nigerians directly running international organisations and running them very well and one or two at the number two-level.
“We have Akin Adesina running the African Development Bank (AFDB), we have Benedict Oramah running the Afrexim Bank, we have Mohammed Barkindo running the OPEC, we have my sister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala running the WTO and we have Amina Mohammed who is number two in the United Nations (UN).
Raed Also: The Nigerian Dilemma
“These are things that should give hope and encouragement for the future. The point is that, if these people are here in Nigeria, if you hear of them at all, we would have shackled them and make it impossible for them to perform as they are performing outside.
“And each of these people that I have mentioned, they are doing fantastically well. We have even at the AU, Ambassador Bankole Adeoye who had just taken over as the Commissioner for Political Affairs and Peace and Security (PAPS) of the AU.
“So why are they doing well there and here we are not doing well? Something must be wrong, we should be interrogating this, we should and then what should we do? What we should do is put our house in order and we can put our house in order.
“My prayer is that all of us particularly in this country will have something to contribute to making this country what God created it to be; a land flowing with milk and honey. Right now, it is a land flowing with bitterness and sadness. That is not what God wants this country to be.
“We must change the narrative; we must talk to ourselves in the civilised language.
“I believe that God has created Nigeria to lead the black race, that we are not doing this, is not because God has not given us all that we need to do it. It is because we have failed in leadership to do it and that has to be corrected. But, that is the fault of all of us. As you rightly said, where we should speak up, we should speak up.
