Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said that any government that doesn’t protect people’s lives and property has no reason to exist. This is a harsh look at Nigeria’s growing insecurity and the problems with its leadership.
Obasanjo said that Nigeria’s problems are getting worse because of bad leadership. He warned that the country has lost its power in world affairs and messed up important relationships with other countries in the region, especially in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Obasanjo also said on News Central’s Soni Irabor Live (SIL) over the weekend that Nigeria was no longer “at the table” of global decision-making. He said that the country’s inability to shape events outside of its borders shows a lack of leadership in general.
The outspoken former leader of Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, said that the people of Nigeria should not accept kidnapping and other social ills as normal. He pointed out that in the past, Nigerians could travel freely across the country.
He gave the federal government a harsh review, saying that any government that doesn’t protect people’s lives and property has lost its right to exist.
Obasanjo said that Nigeria’s security situation has gotten worse since the end of the civil war, when there wasn’t enough control over the spread of weapons. He said that bad government and lack of attention had made the problem worse.
He also said that the crisis was caused by both outside and inside factors, such as the return of armed mercenaries after Libya’s former leader Muammar Gaddafi fell, as well as the use of armed groups for political reasons.
Obasanjo said that the growing number of children who aren’t in school, which is thought to be around 20 million, is a long-term security risk because it makes a good place for extremists to recruit new members.
“The other day, someone from NIPSS (National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies) came to me and said they were looking into the reasons for insecurity,” the former president said. And I asked, “What is this about?” He said that the government told them to do this.
“I asked, “Will this government have the guts to do whatever you tell them to do?” He replied that he didn’t know. I told them, “Look, I came back to this country in 1959 after my first military training in the UK.” You could go anywhere in the North. Anyplace. And what you will get is kind people there.
“And someone told me the other day that we’ve taken kidnapping for granted. It isn’t news anymore. So when you hear that someone in your family has been taken, you all get together. They might let him go for N2,000, though. Should we accept that as normal? No way.
Obasanjo said, “And the first duty of any government, no matter how it comes to be, is to protect life and property.” If a government can’t protect its citizens’ lives and property, it doesn’t have the right to exist.
When asked about Nigeria’s future under the current leadership, the former president said, “I see nothing.” He was very clear about his lack of hope for the country’s future. He said that the decline of democratic values, such as what he called the replacement of a “selectorate” with a real electorate, had made accountability and governance weaker.
Obasanjo specifically criticized how the Tinubu administration handled relations with Niger Republic after the recent coup there. He said the response was poorly thought out and would hurt decades of regional cooperation that had taken 50 years to build.
He said that Nigeria’s actions, such as closing borders, cutting off electricity, and putting financial limits on the two countries, hurt the long-standing historical, economic, and cultural ties between them.
Obasanjo remembered that Nigeria and Niger had strong ties, including many family ties across the border. He also said that working together was once very important to Nigeria’s military and strategic interests.
He said that Nigeria’s choices during the recent crisis in Niger showed that the highest levels of government don’t understand what’s going on. He said that Nigeria’s current path is missing effective leadership. He said that Nigeria didn’t have to spend much money to keep its power, but it did need clear thinking and strategic involvement, which he thought were missing right now.
After the coup in Niger Republic, people thought that Tinubu, as chairman of ECOWAS, took a hard line and pushed for sanctions, border closures, and even threatened military action to restore constitutional order.
Obasanjo and others who criticized the situation said it was handled badly and hurt long-standing ties with Niger, which made the region less cohesive instead of giving ECOWAS more power.
In the end, Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso all left the group.
Obasanjo said, “Nigeria is not at the table of international politics today.” What is going on that Nigeria is having an effect on or affecting, and who is Nigeria affecting?
“Look at how we’ve dealt with ECOWAS. Something we worked on for 50 years. We messed it up overnight. And we have almost ruined it.
“It’s about leading. There was a coup in Niger Republic. Our neighbor. At least 30% of the people in Niger Republic are related by blood to people in Nigeria.
“We were working on the Kanji Dam. Kanji would not have made sense. We told Niger Republic, “We’ll give you whatever you want for electricity when the Kanji Dam is working.” We had to do that.
“We would have had a hard time winning the civil war without the Niger Republic. We used to get supplies through the Niger Republic and send them to our troops on the front lines. Now, for all of these reasons, they had to leave. We closed the border right away. Next, we turned off their power. Next, we said, “No money.” With our borders that let things through!
“So, when I talk about mishandling, you can see what I meant,” Obasanjo said. It doesn’t cost Nigeria much to be at the table. But it needs to be understood. But honestly, it hurts. “Because I know what Nigeria could do.”
Obasanjo also said that the National Council of State (NCS), which is made up of former presidents who give advice, was not important. He said that going to its meetings was a waste of time. He said that the body was only there to give advice and that its suggestions were often ignored, which made it useless as a way to get involved or change policy.
The former president repeated his long-held belief that government-owned refineries run by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) would not work well. This time, he talked about the economy and the oil industry. He said that their ongoing poor performance was mostly due to structural problems, bad maintenance, corruption, and not being big enough.
He said that while he was in office, they tried to get private companies to help run the refinery. They even talked to international oil companies like Shell, but they didn’t want to get involved because they were worried about making money and the difficulties of running the business. He also talked about how billionaire businessman Aliko Dangote had tried to buy stakes in the refineries before, but his successor changed his mind.
Obasanjo said that the government had spent billions of dollars, up to $16 billion, on the refineries with little to show for it. He compared this to the success of privately run projects like the Nigeria LNG project, which he used as proof that public-private partnerships were better.
“Look at what we’re doing now with the NNPC. There are refineries at NNPC. And I told people it would never work, he said.
The former president warned that a one-party state would be bad for Nigeria’s growth and democracy. He said that a one-party state would not be good for Nigeria, even though the president had promised him that he was not interested in one.
Obasanjo said, “He (Tinubu) said he doesn’t want Nigeria to be a one-party state.” He said that. And, as I said, I will trust him this time. It will be a shame. Because it won’t even do what it’s supposed to do.
Obasanjo said that Nigeria could still get better, even though people were critical of him. He said this was because of the country’s potential and the strength of its people.
He did say, though, that real progress would depend on a big change in the quality of leadership and the way the government works.
