Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said the current direction the country is going might not see light at the end of the tunnel, since the current government is only making a bad situation much worse.
Obasanjo said while the President Muhammadu Buhari’s government has been claiming achievements here and there, Nigerians on the other hand, are busy asking questions which the president seem to not understand.
Speaking in an interview with Premium Times, the former president said the progress the country is said to be making under Buhari is questionable.
“I think we have no choice but to be on the path for sustainable development,” Obasanjo said.
“The progress we are making may be questionable. Is it fast enough? Is it steady enough? Is it stable enough? Are we taking two steps forward and one step back or one step side-way?
“You can question that, but we have no choice but to be on (the) path for sustainable development. Any other thing will be a disaster. In fact, the pace at which we are going now is tending more and more toward disaster and instability and unsustainability.”
Speaking on the state of the economy under Buhari, he said the situation is terrifying since foreign investors no longer have confidence in the nation’s economy as it is poorly managed.
“The problem is that we are just not doing what we should be doing,” he said.
“Nobody has that confidence, and we cannot develop Nigeria without that confidence in our economy. Both for domestic investors and foreign investors.”
Speaking on the current leadership arrangement in the country which is said to have heightened calls for either restructuring or disintegration, Obasanjo expressed worry saying the composition sends a disturbing signal in a multi-ethnic nation like Nigeria.
“I think there is a presumption in our constitution that our system will bring out competent leaders devoid of extremism, religious or tribal bigotry. Leaders who understand what it takes to hold the country together and put it in high gear for development, unity and an inclusive and shared society,” he said.
“These are assumptions. And if these assumptions come true, what is meant to be achieved in our country will be achieved. But the kind of situation you have now cannot allow those assumptions to become reality. Now you have a situation where three top officials of government will be from only two northern zones.
"Senate President Ahmad Lawan is from the north-east, the acting chief justice of Nigeria is from the north-east, The president of the country is from the north-west. They are all from what we call the core north. How can you have that kind of arrangement and then be absolutely insensitive to it?
“So the prescription that our constitution makes of the kind of leadership that should emerge, we have failed to achieve that with the present leadership we have in place. The Constitution expects the executive to care for the welfare and security of every Nigerian. But in the present situation, they don’t seem to care.”