Former president Olusegun Obasanjo has asked President Muhammadu Buhari and his team to stop blaming past administrations for the country’s economic woes and work towards changing the country for the better.
Obasanjo stated this while delivering the keynote address at the First Akintola Williams Annual Lecture.
He advised President Buhari to stop dwelling in the past, adding that since he has been elected to change the country, he should concentrate on clearing the mess he met on ground.
The former president said now that the country have had change because the actors and the situation needed to be changed, it should be moved forward to have progress through a comprehensive economic policy and programme that is intellectually, strategically and philosophically based.
”It is easier to win an election than to right the wrongs of a badly fouled situation. When you are outside, what you see and know are nothing compared with the reality.
”Once you are on the driving seat, you have to clear the mess and put the nation on the path of rectitude, development and progress leaving no group or section out of your plan, programme and policy and efforts.
”The longer it takes, the more intractable the problem may become,” he said.
Obasanjo who criticised plans by the Buhari led administration to take about $30 billion loan, said he’s sure a comprehensive policy and programme that will move Nigeria forward will not support borrowing $30 billion in less than three years.
According to him, “Adhocry is not the answer but cold, hard headed planning that evinces confidence and trust is the answer. Economy neither obeys orders nor does it work according to wishes. It must be worked upon with all factors considered and most stakeholders involved.
He said that investors, domestic and foreign, are no fools and they know what is going on with the management of the economy including the foreign exchange and they are not amused.
”The Central Bank must be restored to its independence and integrity. We must be careful and watchful of the danger of shortermism.
“Short-term may be the enemy of medium and long-term. We must also make allowance for the lessons that most of us in democratic dispensation have learned and which the present administration seems to be just learning,” he averred.
