Former president, Chief Olusegun Aremu
Obasanjo has verbally bitten into his
successor, Goodluck Jonathan over his
failure to heed advice.
OBJ, while speaking at the launch of
‘Making Africa Work’, a book he co-
authored, blasted Jonathan over his
failed promises to Nigerians, especially
the promise of generating 40,000
MegaWatts of electricity.
When asked why implementation of
Ideas has been a major issue in Nigeria,
Obasanjo had this to say;
“The problem with governments is that
they don’t want to engage in
continuity.A government will be sworn
in and the next thing you hear is ‘we are
the first to, we will be the first to’ do this
and that. So I do ask myself, what do
these ones want to do that hasn’t been
done.Before I left government, I formed
a team and sent them to different parts
of the world to understudy development
of countries doing well.
They came back, gave their report and
we formed National Economic
Empowerment and Development
Strategy (NEEDS). We also had States and
Local chapters. When Jonathan came in,
they abandoned the programme. I was
looking.
Again, before I left, we were able to
generate 4,000MW of electricity. We had
laid out a plan to increase to 10,000MW
in subsequent years. When they
Jonathan came, they boasted that they
will generate 40,000MW in 4 years. I said
what! 40,000MW? Do these people even
know what they are are talking about?
I thought I should intervene by
reminding them that I left a plan that
could generate 10,000MW which is
more realistic. Then I sent someone,
who I won’t disclose, to Jonathan. I said
go and lecture this man. Let him know
what is possible and what is not, so they
don’t keep deceiving him.
He still didn’t hear. At the end, he failed
Nigerians on that promise and others he
made. How many megawatts did Nigeria
have when he left office. It was actually
lower if you compare to what I left in
2007.”
