God did not create Nigeria to be poor - Obasanjo
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo said on Sunday that it was not God's intention for Nigeria to be a poor country, saying the country's situation should be blamed on its political leaders.
He said it was lamentable that Nigeria had not harnessed science and technology to achieve self-sufficiency in food production.
The former president said this at a conference to mark his 86th birthday in Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State.
He said, "God created Nigeria for a great purpose. At independence, the world did not refer to Nigeria as a giant in Africa, no, they referred to Nigeria as a giant in the sun; Nigeria was more than giant in Africa, it was giant in the sun. But not only weren't we giants in the sun, we weren't even giants in Africa. Some people called us giants with feet of clay.
“It is not for this that God created Nigeria; this is what we Nigerians have inadvertently or inadvertently made of Nigeria. But will Nigeria continue to be, I believe not. So we must continue to stand together and pray and understand all the factors and elements that make us not the giant but the dwarf of Africa and how we can come out of it and I believe and I pray that we let's get out of here."
On food security, the ex-president said: "Until the war in Ukraine, I really did not realize how much we in Africa, almost all of Africa depend Russians and Ukrainians for wheat. Wheat, which is used to make bread, is just carbohydrates. Are there no carbohydrate foods that can be produced in Africa from which we can be self-sufficient? I know some of our countries can't produce wheat and that's the kind of thing IITA did.
"Science and technology have given us everything we need for food and nutrition security in Africa, what remains is political will and political action."
Earlier in his lecture, titled "The Complex Dynamics of Achieving Food and Nutrition Security in Africa", a former Director General of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Dr Nteranya Sanginga, said lamented that African countries, despite being blessed with fertile land, still spend billions of dollars importing food.
Sanginga said that by spending 11 billion naira a year to import food, Nigeria is enhancing the internally generated income of other countries to its own detriment.
He said that for Africa to achieve food security, governments need to show more political will and determination.
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Former President Olusegun Obasanjo said on Sunday that it was not God's intention for Nigeria to be a poor country, saying the country's situation should be blamed on its political leaders.
He said it was lamentable that Nigeria had not harnessed science and technology to achieve self-sufficiency in food production.
The former president said this at a conference to mark his 86th birthday in Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State.
He said, "God created Nigeria for a great purpose. At independence, the world did not refer to Nigeria as a giant in Africa, no, they referred to Nigeria as a giant in the sun; Nigeria was more than giant in Africa, it was giant in the sun. But not only weren't we giants in the sun, we weren't even giants in Africa. Some people called us giants with feet of clay.
“It is not for this that God created Nigeria; this is what we Nigerians have inadvertently or inadvertently made of Nigeria. But will Nigeria continue to be, I believe not. So we must continue to stand together and pray and understand all the factors and elements that make us not the giant but the dwarf of Africa and how we can come out of it and I believe and I pray that we let's get out of here."
On food security, the ex-president said: "Until the war in Ukraine, I really did not realize how much we in Africa, almost all of Africa depend Russians and Ukrainians for wheat. Wheat, which is used to make bread, is just carbohydrates. Are there no carbohydrate foods that can be produced in Africa from which we can be self-sufficient? I know some of our countries can't produce wheat and that's the kind of thing IITA did.
"Science and technology have given us everything we need for food and nutrition security in Africa, what remains is political will and political action."
Earlier in his lecture, titled "The Complex Dynamics of Achieving Food and Nutrition Security in Africa", a former Director General of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Dr Nteranya Sanginga, said lamented that African countries, despite being blessed with fertile land, still spend billions of dollars importing food.
Sanginga said that by spending 11 billion naira a year to import food, Nigeria is enhancing the internally generated income of other countries to its own detriment.
He said that for Africa to achieve food security, governments need to show more political will and determination.
Please share this story:
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