Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, on Saturday, described the
ongoing Boko Haram insurgency as very serious but declined to defend the
approach of the Federal Government to resolving the crisis.
Delivering a keynote address at the 2012 Cambridge Africa Business
Network in the United Kingdom, Obasanjo described the security
challenges facing Nigeria as surmountable, affirming that the nation had
had a civil war which was more serious than Boko Haram.
“All these security problems pooled together are nothing compared to
the civil war from which the nation pulled through,” the former
president said.
“Is there insecurity? Yes. Are we doing something about it? Yes. Are
we doing enough about the problem? Well, that is up to you to decide,”
Obasanjo told the gathering drawn from all over the world.
Obasanjo, who described himself as a chicken farmer, expressed his
sadness over the attacks on media houses, describing it as a dangerous
turn in the conflict.
On subsidy controversy, the former leader was hesitant in dealing
with the issue even as he said he prefered to use the word support
rather than subsidy
The former leader was, however, emphatic that current leaders of
Nigeria were only struggling to correct mistakes of the past which he
blamed on wrong advice given to the nation.
According to him, “cold war at independence, bad advice from World
Bank, import substitution strategies, Structural Adjustment Programme
messed us up in the beginning.
“They came up with Structural Adjustment Programme when you have no
structure. With due respect to the World Bank, you misadvised us,”
Obasanjo said.
Obasanjo, however, noted that Nigeria was doing a lot to provide
enabling environment to attract foreign investment, adding that
“Nigeria has created a one-stop shop for getting business perfectly
acting as senior advisor to New World Capital Limited, an advisory firm
that aims to provide investors with access to Africa both through direct
investments and a private-equity fund.”
Other speakers at the conference include Dr Guy Scott, Vice President
of the Republic of Zambia; Razia Khan, He illivray, Head of Private
Sector Department at the Department for International Development;
Wadzanai Madziva, Head of Business Development at Google Africa; Karima
Ola, Managing Director of the African Development Corporation; and Zain
Latif, Principal at TLG Capital.
The Cambridge Africa Business Network conference has as its theme
'Unlocking Value in Frontier Africa' with a focus on exploring how
Sub-Saharan African countries are quickly becoming the world's next
frontier markets for business and investment.
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