FORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo reopened yesterday what is arguably Nigeria’s most critical issue – leadership.
“You know you can help somebody to get the job, but you cannot help him to do it. If somebody cannot do the job, we have Sule Lamido who we are confident can do the job,” he told a crowd of would-be investors, dignitaries and ordinary folks in Dutse, capital of Jigawa State.
It was at the opening of the First Jigawa State Economic and Investment Summit at the Sir Amadu Bello Hall at the state secretariat.
Obasanjo did not elaborate on his statement and it was not immediately clear whether he was talking about the 2015 election. Jigawa State Governor Lamido is being rumoured to be interested in the presidential race with Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi as his running mate. He has said he is yet to think about 2015.
Although he did not mention the President’s name in Dutse yesterday, Obasanjo has been critical of the Dr. Goodluck Jonathan administration.
He has spoken against its handling of the Boko Haram insurgency and the growing unemployment, saying it is a bomb waiting to explode.
Obasanjo said the government should have approached the Boko Haram insurgency the way he (Obasanjo) handled the killing of security men in Odi (Bayelsa State) and Zaki Biam (Benue State) communities when he was the president.
But President Jonathan fired back, saying the soldiers Obasanjo sent to Odi failed to get those who killed the security men.
Dr. Jonathan said as deputy governor of Bayelsa State at the time, he discovered, when he visited Odi after the military raid, that only women and children were killed by the soldiers.
Obasanjo has also in recent time, distanced himself from activities of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) , which is immersed in crises. He resigned his membership of the Board of Trustees (BoT).
The former president however revealed that, he was the one who imposed Lamido on the people of Jigawa. He is happy that he was not disappointed, he said.
Obasanjo also called on governors to maintain cordial relationship with the Federal Government so as to ensure meaningful development.
He said there was need for governors to show full cooperation with the government at the centre for the common interest of the nation and its citizens.
The former President also described Jigawa state as a fertile ground for investment. He urged both local and international investors to locate their investment potentials in the state.
According to him, Jigawa is not only peaceful, it has acquired the needed infrastructure and resources capable of boosting business and enterprises.
Obasanjo described Jigawa state as the most investor-friendly in the country, citing stable security, peace and huge presence of needed infrastructure as his reasons.
Obasanjo said the problem of the country’s leadership is, “that of unmet expectations stressing that governments must invest in the people’s education to overcome poverty, redundancy and criminalities.
He explained that good governance is key for any practical and factual economic development plan, “the government is not expected to invest directly, but to provide enabling environment for private investors to exploit.
“The way Sule Lamido has revitalised the Jigawa State – education sector, adequate provision of good roads network, infrastructure, social security, free trade – has now made the state to be a haven for investors, and to the best of my knowledge, today there is nowhere in Nigeria where investors can have confidence in doing business that is greater than Jigawa State.
“I am optimistic that, this summit would help in making out long-term economic plan that would lead to the successful economic development that would be translated into the increase of employment, wealth creation, poverty reduction and improve the well-being of the people of the state and Nigeria”
Lamido recalled his inaugural speech six years ago. He said: “As you all might be aware, our state manifests the worst indices of underdevelopment.
“It was the electioneering campaign tour that exposed me to the problems of our people in that most pathetic degree. The tour brought me face to face with the uniquely unmitigated case of underdevelopment called Jigawa state”, he said.
The governor observed that as he settled down in office, he discovered that the elite in the state were living in a world of their own that ensured total disconnect with the ordinary citizens
He said his resolve to run the government best practices in governance has helped to liberate the state from the pains and agony of underdevelopment.
He said: “Today, we want to announce to the whole world with all the noise we can muster that we are ready and our doors are now open to take Jigawa to the next level”.
Chairman of the summit Lord Paul Boateng, said he has the conviction that the state can become a ‘Super Eagle’ in the economic world.
“Nigeria is Africa’s biggest direction for foreign investment”, he said, warning that “we must also need to recognise that Africa is the father of its own progress”.
In her vote of thanks, the Commissioner for Commerce, Hajiya Hauwa Sulaiman Baffa, thanked Diamond Bank among others for supporting the summit.
