Obasanjo shared this during an appearance on Arise TV's Morning Show on Monday, stating that Nigeria's current state is a result of either deliberate or unintended actions by its leaders.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said that God wants Nigeria to be a land flowing with milk and honey and not a desert, a basket case or a failed country.
Obasanjo shared this during an appearance on Arise TV's Morning Show on Monday, stating that Nigeria's current state is a result of either deliberate or unintended actions by its leaders. He added that he believes God has great plans for Nigeria in the near future.
"I will say to Nigerians, we are going through hardship, but they should never lose hope. We have a great country and where we are, it is not where God wants us to be. And I believe that sooner than later, we will get to where God wants,” he said.
"God wants Nigeria to be a land flowing with milk and honey, not a desert, not a basket case, not a failed country, but we are where we are, either because of inadvertent or advertent actions of our leaders. I believe God has great things for Nigeria in the immediate future, and we should not look how that could be.”
In November, Obasanjo lamented that Nigeria’s economic situation was very bad and that the situation was made worse by the unwillingness of the leaders to take responsibility.
Obasanjo made this statement in his keynote address at the Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum, held at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
In his speech, titled, “Leadership Failure and State Capture in Nigeria,” he expressed concern over the country's dire situation, noting that “as the world can see and understand, Nigeria’s situation is bad”.
Using Singapore as an example of a country with effective leadership, Obasanjo highlighted how the government there has remained responsive to the evolving needs of its citizens, making significant investments in sectors like healthcare, education, and social welfare.
He said, “Nigeria’s situation, as we can see and understand, is bad. The more the immorality and corruption of a nation, the more the nation sinks into chaos, insecurity, conflict, discord, division, disunity, depression, youth restiveness, confusion, violence, and underdevelopment.
“That’s the situation mostly in Nigeria in the reign of ‘Baba-go-slow’ and ‘Emilokan’. The failing state status of Nigeria is confirmed and glaringly indicated and manifested for every honest person to see through the consequences of the level of our pervasive corruption, mediocrity, immorality, misconduct, mismanagement, perversion, injustice, incompetence and all other forms of iniquity. But yes, there is hope.”