Still like a dream to me meeting with the former President Olusegun Mathew Aremu Okikiola Obasanjo. I never thought this could happen because of my perception about ALL former and present Nigerian leaders that they are the cause of the quagmire the country is in today.
My perception about baba changed upon our visit to him on Saturday, January 22 after the tour of the when I saw what a retired General born from a village put together at the Library. I saw a man who cherishes history and record-keeping, I saw a charismatic, bold, and energetic retired General. an adage says you don’t know the worth and value of a man if you didn’t close to him. I doubt if a professor in any discipline could do better than what he did, hate him or like him, he still remains the best President Nigeria ever had since 1999. I doff my cap, Baba.
OBJ AND NIGERIA
Over the years, I took time to study and digest the formation of the country vi’s a vi’s the challenges facing us as a nation, post, and pre-independence in order to know where we got it wrong. The 1914 amalgamation was not left behind in fact different school of thought believes that that is the beginning of our challenge as a nation.
President Obasanjo’s remarked on Saturday that the formation of countries is a “geographical expression” designed by the slave masters, I will not agree less with him, we are all student of history but unfortunately, our school are no longer teaching history, the reason is best known to those who formulate that policy.
As a toddler in 1976, I was fond of studying Almanac that our old fathers usually used to decorate the sitting room (parlor) and to monitor days, months of activities during the year, that was how I got to know about Operation Feed the Nation (OFN) a programme which was introduced when he was the Military Head of State to boost Agricultural production in the country and the impact was felt across the country.
My late father was a very strong fan of baba and he followed all his programs meticulously.
Gladly on Saturday, January 22, he gave an explanation on how his predecessor, President Shehu Shagari scrapped OFN and introduced Green Revolution which could not achieve any success, the general perception still remains that Operation Feed the Nation metamorphosis into Obasanjo Farm Nigeria.
In 1999 when he came in as an elected President, Baba put his foot on the ground, he assembled a formidable team comprising technocrats and professionals regardless of their ethnic background (unlike what we are seeing today) he formulated and implemented a robust economic policy in order to stabilize the economy. Baba returned Nigeria back into reckoning at the global stage after long years of military rule.
However, he would have done better if he addressed some of the fundamental problems affecting Nigeria today below:
- To draft a new constitution that will reflect true Federalism
- Devolution of power to Local and state government, (glad he mentioned this during our meeting)
- Total restructuring of the country.
I wouldn’t have satisfied my conscience if I didn’t say this.
May your days be long Baba as we will continue to tap from his wealth of experience.
Long live Baba
Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria
