By OLUWOLE FAROTIMI Sunday, November 20, 2011
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, at the weekend, lampooned the squandering of $35 billion he left in Nigeria’s foreign reserve in 2007 when he left office, saying the country’s leaders and people need to be prudent to get out of its economic woes.
The elder statesman, who spoke at his invest
iture as the First Grand Patron of Nigeria-China Business Council (NCBC) held at the Golden Gates in Lagos, said Nigeria should borrow a leaf from the Chinese economy that is designed for sustainable growth and development.
According to him, “whether the money disappeared, or like the governor said it was shared, the fact remains that $35 billion disappeared from the foreign reserve I left in office. I said it before that before the middle of the century China will rule the world.
There is nothing anybody can do about it. They have what it takes; the dedication, population, technology, the will. Every six to seven years the economic growth will double again.
“When we left that money, we thought we were leaving it for the rainy day. But my brother said the rain is falling now. The fact is that when the rain is falling we will have nothing to cover our heads because we have blown it off. The Chinese do not think that way.”
Obasanjo lamented that while the Chinese were busy building their country, Nigerians and their leaders are busy taking and bringing down the economic growth.
“While Europe is wobbling and fumbling; thank God for that, America since 2008 has not come out of economic recession. I doubt if it will not affect Obama’s second tenure,” he said.
The ceremony was attended by the Delta State Governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Edem Duke, and his Foreign Affairs counterpart, Ambassador Gbenga Ashiru.
via Daily Sun.
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