Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, today accused the administration of
President Jonathan, of depleting Nigeria's oil savings which according to him
was @ $45billion when he left office and had depreciated over time to
$30billion. He made the accusations while receiving some South-West women
leaders at his residence in Abeokuta, earlier today
"Our economy should not have been this bad. When I was leaving
office about eight years ago, I left a very huge reserve after we had paid all
our debts. Almost $25billion we kept in what they called excess crude. The
excess from the budget we were saving as reserve for the rainy days. When we
left in May 2007, the reserve was said to have been raised to $35billion. But
today, that reserve has been depleted!
Today, that reserve has been depleted. The reserve we left when we
finished paying all our debts, our debts that was about 40billion dollars, that
is including debt forgiveness, the remaining debt was not more than $3billion.
Our reserve after we had paid off this debt was about $45billion. As I said,
they continued till the end of 2007, I heard that the reserve increased to
almost $67billion before the end of the year. Our reserve now, learnt is left
with around only $30billion. That is why the Naira has been falling against the
dollar. What would now happen, I learnt if you want to buy a dollar now, it’s
about N192 or N195. What it means is this, what you have been buying at N150 to
a dollar, now you need N192 or N195 to buy it. That is the real situation. Is
there any remedy? There is, but it does not come overnight because it means we
have to give up all the bad things we have been doing. I know that God did not
create Nigeria not to be rich or great. Is it that the people he created in
Nigeria are not knowledgeable enough or not intelligent enough? Or is that they
don’t know their rights? Our problems in Nigeria, let’s look at the foundation
of our leadership. In the profession I know very well, the military, what we
normally say is that there are no bad soldiers but bad officers. If you see a
situation where the soldiers are not doing well, we need to examine the
officers in charge. So it is in the family, the community, the town and the
country,” he said.
President Obasanjo said his remarks about the state of the nation was
not in any way an expression of a personal grudge with the President
"I have no grudges against Jonathan and I think Jonathan equally
has no grudges against me. I’m not quarrelling with Jonathan but all I know is
that whatever is good for Nigeria, that I’m ready to die for. I emphasize that
whatever is good for Nigeria, is what I’m ready to defend with my life.
Whoever, I emphasize, whoever says he would not do anything good to Nigeria,
even if he says he’s ready to go ‘konko below’, I’m ready to square it up with
such a person. I say again, whoever that person may be, I want you to get that
correctly. If this country is going to change for the better, it would start
from the top and if it’s going to be otherwise, it would start from the top,
too,” the former president stressed.
