Former President Olusegun Obasanjo blamed poor leadership as the problem of development in African nations.
He spoke on Thursday, May 5, in Abeokuta, Ogun State, while addressing graduates of the Olusegun Obasanjo Leadership Institute (OOLI).
The convocation ceremony took place during the former President’s 89th birthday lecture with the theme “The Global Africa Enlightenment: From Chains to Renaissance.”
The lecture held at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library in Abeokuta.
In attendance were prominent personalities, including former Presidential candidates of the Labour Party and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso, respectively; Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun; his predecessors, Senator Ibikunle Amosun and Otunba Gbenga Daniel.
Speaking at the event, Obasanjo stated that when leaders are poorly formed, nations are fractured, sources are stolen, children without education go to bed hungry, and young people with bright futures abandon hope and take “dangerous risks” in search of greener pastures.
According to Obasanjo, he founded the Olusegun Obasanjo Leadership Institute because after his five decades of public life, he has seen that Africa’s greatest deficit is not money, not land, not intellect, but leadership.
He said, “I’ve seen what one well-formed leader can do.”
He added that “one leader with vision, with discipline, with integrity, with better service and incorruptibility, with courage to serve rather than take can transform a community, rescue an institution, redirect a nation.”