Former president Olusegun Obasanjo has urged Nigerians all sundry and sundry to keep up the work and prayers to ensure Nigeria make a transition from being dwarfs to giants in Africa.
Obasanjo also said the intention of God for Nigeria is not to be a poor country, saying the situation of the country should be blamed on its political leadership.
He said it was lamentable that Nigeria had not taken advantage of science and technology to attain self-sufficiency in food production.
The ex-president stated this at a lecture organised to mark his 86th birthday in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital.
He said: “God has created Nigeria for a great purpose. At independence, the world did not refer to Nigeria as a giant in Africa, no, they referred to Nigeria as giant in the sun; Nigeria was more than giant in Africa, it was giant in the sun. But not only have we not been giant in the sun, but we also have not even been giants in Africa. Some people called us giants with clay feet.
“That is not what God has created Nigeria to be; that is what we Nigerians have inadvertently or advertently made Nigeria to be. But will Nigeria continue to be so, I believe not. So, we must continue to hold ourselves together, pray and understand all the factors and the elements that are making us not to be the giant, but the dwarf of Africa and how we can get out of it and I believe and pray that we will get out of it.”
He added: “Until the Ukraine war, I really did not realise how much we in Africa, almost all of us in Africa depend on the Russians and the Ukrainians for wheat. Wheat, which is used to make bread, is only carbohydrate. Are there no carbohydrate foodstuffs that can be produced in Africa that we can be self-sufficient in? I know some of our countries cannot produce wheat and this is the sort of thing that IITA has been doing.
“Science and technology has given us all that we need for food and nutrition security in Africa what is left is political will and political action.”
