… warns politicians against divisive tendencies

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has cautioned political leaders against actions that will further divide the people along ethnic or religious lines.

He lamented that Nigeria had never been as disunited as currently being witnessed, even as he asserted that the country had been created to lead the black race.

Obasanjo said this at a colloquium organised to mark the 113th anniversary of Kings College, Lagos.

He stressed that the task of keeping Nigeria as one must be achieved.

The former President said, “Today, we are politically disunited; economically, we are nowhere; diplomatically, what they say to me wherever I go is that Nigeria is not at the table. We need to have a government that understands what it means to govern and the responsibility to govern; not arrogance of ignorance, not crying nepotism.

“There are three races in the world, the white, the yellow and the black. For now, the Americans are leading the white race. The Chinese have taken the lead of the yellow race. I believe Nigeria with a population of 225million people is created by God to lead the black race. So whatever we do, we disappoint ourselves, we disappoint Africa and disappoint the black race. We must stop disappointing ourselves and when we stop disappointing ourselves, we will take care of the continent and the black race.”

According to Obasanjo, national identity is the foundation of social position, adding that weak social position causes distrust as people are reluctant to engage with one another.

He said, “We do not trust ourselves while confidence is totally destroyed and where there is no confidence, there is no togetherness. If we have no dream, then, what can be the inspiration for the aspiration of our youths? What can they look up to or aspire to? We must take being a Nigerian as first and being anything else as second.”

Speaking on the theme of the colloquium ‘Building Nigeria of our dream’, the former President said economic emancipation and citizens’ well-being are central to the national dream.

He said, “If you want to build the Nigeria of your dream, you must have a dream or dreams; we only have a Nigerian dream and if we have a Nigerian dream, what is it so that we can all key into it? But if we do not have a Nigerian dream, do we need to have a Nigerian dream? And if we need to have a Nigerian dream, what must it be?

“The Americans can say they have the American dream, the British can say they have the British dream but in our case, do we really have what we can call the Nigerian dream? For me, the Nigerian dream will start from the national identity, which we can all hold on to. National identity is the foundation of social position. Even when you look into our constitution, there is something we call national ethics.

“Chapter 2 (23) of the constitution says, ‘National ethics shall be discipline, integrity, dignity of labour, social justice, religious tolerance, self-reliance and patriotism’ Even if you take the two stanzas of the national anthem and pledge and bring it to our ethics, we have enough to give us a Nigerian dream. If we have a Nigerian dream, there will be vision for our youth. If we cannot agree on our dream for Nigeria, maybe we can agree on Nigeria we want and we work towards the Nigeria we want.”

The Director General of World Trade Organization (WTO), Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who presented the keynote address virtually, said her dream for Nigeria is modest.

She said Nigerians are the most enterprising and industrious people on the planet.

She said, “It gives me great pride. You just give Nigerians the basics and access to these fundamentals of education, health, finance and infrastructure, and Nigerians will do the best.

Looking back to the start of the century, the record shows that Nigeria can sustain the strong growth we need to improve people’s lives when we do the necessary reforms, and manage the macroeconomic fundamentals.”