2023: Wrong choice will consume Nigeria, says Obasanjo

Former president Olusegun Obasanjo has urged Nigerians to make the right choice in 2023, warning that a failure to get it right will hurt the nation.

He said if Nigeria makes the right choice in 2023, there will be progress in the country.

Obasanjo spoke as special guest of honour at the Wilson Badejo Foundation’s 15th annual lecture with the theme, ‘Overcoming the twin challenge of poverty and insecurity in Nigeria’ held in Lagos.

He said, “Nigeria is not where it is supposed to be today. If anyone says it is ok where we are at the moment, then the person’s head needs to be examined.

“My friend, late Ahmed Joda, used to tell me that God has given us everything a nation needs and there’s no need for prayers because if God has given you everything and you squandered it, then something is wrong.

“I told him that even at that, we still need prayers as a nation because what is good needs prayers and on the other side too, we still need more prayers.”

Also speaking, Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Prof Eghosa Osaghea, in his lecture titled, ‘Overcoming the twin challenge of poverty and insecurity in Nigeria,’ explained that when “one’s country fails the individual, then that individual becomes a failure.”

He said, “Poverty cannot divide us but it binds us what divides us is corruption. If you see street protests across the world, it is the poor who do it.

“Corruption, by whatever means, is what causes division.

“Many people today dig their boreholes for water, employ private security units, etc, yet, these are things that the state should have put in place.

“It is the duty of the state to provide these for the common good of all.”