Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Wednesday identified good leadership, governance and development as the elements for economic progress in Nigeria and Africa.
Here below were his statements:
“Our leaders must prioritise adequate infrastructure as the basis for our development.
“We must embrace new technologies to tackle security challenges in the country, build strong institutions to uphold our core values.
“In Nigeria, there is the need to acknowledge and appreciate our diversity and not make it a liability.
“We are called the giant of Africa because of our huge human resources and diversity, meaning that it is an asset that we should appreciate and not make it a liability.
“Nigerian leaders should not think of the well-being of Nigerians alone, but the well-being of the African continent as a whole to promote a common prosperity,” he said.
“The level of education in the South-west is 85 per cent, 83 per cent in the South-east and less than 30 per cent in the North-east. It is sad that we are having this statistics in the same country.
“Our leaders should invest in education because it is very important for human growth and development,“ he said.
“But we need to transit to a popular movement where people will feel the impact of quality governance,” he said.
“African leaders must be able to manage demographic transition where young men and women will be properly mentored and empowered to prepare them for the future.
“African leaders should also begin to support and invest in industrialisation, energy and infrastructure, especially the rail project, to connect our people and our economy.
“They should also recognise that governance structure should be about development, research and evident-based policies,” he said.
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