Obasanjo: Nigeria has not lived up to ‘giant of Africa’ label

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo says Nigerians should not blame God for their problems but themselves.

Obasanjo spoke on Thursday at the launch of ‘The Letterman’, a book authored by Musikilu Mojeed, Premium Times editor-in-chief.

The book focuses on letters written by Obasanjo.

He said when Nigeria gained independence, the expectation was for the nation to be known as “a giant in the sun” and not the “giant of Africa” as it is being referred to now.

He, however, said Nigeria has not lived to expectations.

“When Nigeria became independent, it was a giant in the sun. That was the expectation. Not a giant even in Africa. A giant in the sun. That was the expectation of the world about Nigeria,” Obasanjo said.

“Have we lived up to it? No. If we haven’t, why haven’t we? I think we probably don’t appreciate what we have as a country and I believe if we do appreciate it and make good use of it, we would do better than we are now.

“I believe the right lessons must be learned. We have all that we need to have. God has given us all that we need to have. That we are not doing what we should do, God is not to blame and we should blame ourselves.”