₦airaland Forum

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said that Nigerians have no business being poor with the country’s vast resources.

He said that the nation is abundantly blessed but is suffering from the mismanagement of its resources.

Obasanjo said this at a dinner organised in his honour by Abia Government on Friday at the Government House, Umuahia.

He said: “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.”

The former president praised the efforts of Gov. Alex Otti of Abia in transforming the state, noting the wide public acclaim of his administration’s performance.

He affirmed the governor’s impact on governance in the state and urged him to continue to do well.

Obasanjo added that if Nigeria had 18 governors doing well in their responsibilities as leaders, “we will build the country up”.


He reiterated his concern 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 recalled an earlier advisory he gave former Minister of Transport, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, during his tenure in office.


He said that Amaechi was not aware of a pre-existing national railway development plan and had to be directed to the archives to find it.


“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.

“But again, I believe as Minister of Transport, you got a bit of it right, you got a bit of it wrong.”


In his speech, the governor acknowledged the support he received from the former president.

He said that the importance of vision and perseverance in leadership could never be overlooked, recounting the challenges he faced over his decade-long political journey.

“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,” he said.

He said his administration had embarked on massive reforms in the education sector to improve access to quality education in Abia.

Also, 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 was 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 and in order not to experience its absence, the people of Abia must support capable leaders like Otti in the next elections.

nairalanda1:
We actually have a lot of business being poor.

LIke now, I am looking at the lithium we discovered. Where are the Nigerian investors that are willing to set up a factory to manufacture lithium batteries for export to other countries?

We want to sell it to china and share the money, and build nice houses filled with imported stuff.

It is not a matter of 'badly managed resources'. We don't use the resources to make stuff the world needs.

Remember how Ghana once sold a batch of cocoa for 2 billion dollars? One UK based company made products worth 17 billion dollars from part of that cocoa

We too wan share money, that is our problem. We want subsidised life, so that we can live in a nice house with imported stuff. And then we come and wonder why we are poor.

treesun:
https://www.vanguardngr.com/2025/04/nigerians-have-no-business-being-poor-says-obasanjo/

thisweekng:
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy Chief Olawale Edun has said the last time Nigeria’s economy looked stable was about a decade ago.

He made this statement during his maiden press conference as Minister of Finance where he outlined President Bola Tinubu’s vision, agenda and strategy for the economy.

He said, “I think as we all know, we are not where we should be. The economy is barely growing above the rate of population growth.

“But it was not always so, and I think in trying to look at the way forward, if we now have a situation of slow growth, double-digit inflation, weak/depreciating exchange rate, as well as security concerns that are resulting in an economy that is not growing and not taking Nigerians out of poverty.

“If we think back to the last time when the economy was stable- when it was growing, when inflation was low, and the interest rate was affordable, that period was about a decade ago. Growth was about 6% in 2013 and 2014.”
Private sector to drive the economy

https://thisweekng.com/the-last-time-nigerias-economy-was-stable-was-about-a-decade-ago-wale-edun/

CodeTemplarr:
copy copy make me shine. Better to copy and hve valid anlysis than to be an illogical subsidy activist and time wastern.

nairalanda1:
I'm happy that my skyscraper and airport are being built safely on your head, with no issues

Nice doing business with you, good sir.

CodeTemplarr:
Every money obtained through denonic means brings one down and one step towards destruction. Keep flexing.

koladata:
Says a man that embezzled 16billion dollars electricity money

Proudlyngwa:
Hypocrite

You set the foundation for this poverty from your military days.
Posterity will never forgive you

004gist:
Those are lies by tinubu and APC.

It never happened anywhere.

Obj remained the best leader.

004gist:
Someon that willingly handover to civilian administration? Check ur self bro