VANGUARD
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo said Nigeria has failed the African continent specifically, and the world at large.
Obasanjo stated this in Abuja while giving the keynote address at the public presentation of the book titled, “Reclaiming the Jewel of Africa,” written by former Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, who also served as Minister of Finance, Olusegun Aganga.
President Bola Tinubu, represented by his Special Adviser on Monetary Policy, Olawale Edun, unveiled the book.
Obasanjo said, “Over the last 63 years, we have not lived up to expectations. We have disappointed ourselves; we have disappointed Africa; we have disappointed the black race; and we have disappointed the world.”
He, however, added that “what Segun (Aganga) has tried to identify, itemise and recommend in his book is the way forward.
“But the beginning of charting a new course for ourselves is to admit our failure because we have not always put the round peg in the round hole.
“We are carried along by ego and emotion of self, selfishness and self-centeredness, ethnic and religious jingoism, with total lack of understanding of the world we live in and gross misunderstanding of what development entails and how to move fast and continuously on the trajectory of development.”
