By Baron Ike
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to make haste to deal with issues he inherited a year and half ago and stop wasting time complaining about what happened in the past before he came on board.
It was a shocking comment Obasanjo dropped on Wednesday, November 23 while delivering the key note speech at the First Akintola Williams Lecture in Lagos with the guests wondering if the honey moon between Obasanjo and Buhari is over.
Obasanjo was one of his known backers of Buhari, before and after the election as he has not hidden his visits and comments geared towards publicly defending most of Buhari’s actions.
Delivering the keynote, Obasanjo accused Buhari administration of repeatedly lumping Nigeria’s three previous administrations (including Obasanjo’s era) together and then accusing all of bad governance.
He therefore told Buhari to desist from dwelling on the past, but rather concentrate on dealing with the mess he inherited.
Obasajo said: “Now that we have had change because the actors and the situation needed to be changed, let us move forward to have progress through a comprehensive economic policy and programme that is intellectually, strategically and philosophically based.
“It is easier to win an election than to right the wrongs of a badly fouled situation. When you are outside, what you see and know are nothing compared with the reality.
“And yet once you are on seat, you have to clear the mess and put the nation on the path of rectitude, development and progress leaving no group or section out of your plan, programme and policy and efforts. The longer it takes, the more intractable the problem may become.”
Expectedly, Obasanjo knocked Buhari over his plan to take about $30billion loan, describing the approach as adhoc way of solving fundamental challenge.
He reiterated what he had always said concerning the National Assembly saying the body stinks to the high heavens just as he noted that the Nigerian military needed to be purged.
His words: “I am sure that such a comprehensive policy and programme (that will move Nigeria forward) will not support borrowing US$30 billion in less than three years. It will give us the short-, medium- and long-term picture.
“Adhocracy is not the answer but cold, hard headed planning that evinces confidence and trust is the answer. Economy neither obeys orders nor does it work according to wishes. It must be worked upon with all factors considered and most stakeholders involved.
“The investors, domestic and foreign, are no fools and they know what is going on with the management of the economy including the foreign exchange and they are not amused. The Central Bank must be restored to its independence and integrity. We must be careful and watchful of the danger of shortermism.
“Short-term may be the enemy of medium- and long-term. We must also make allowance for the lessons that most of us in democratic dispensation have learned and which the present administration seems to be just learning.”