HARDSHIP: NIGERIA SITTING ON KEG OF GUNPOWDER

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By: Sefiu Ajape

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has warned that Nigeria is on the brink of crisis, likening the current state of the nation to “sitting on a keg of gunpowder” due to the severe hardship faced by its citizens.

Obasanjo made the statement on Friday while speaking at the Dele Momodu Leadership Lecture.

He argued that if China was able to lift 700 million people out of poverty, then Nigeria has no excuse for the widespread poverty still plaguing the country.

While proffering a lasting solution to hunger across Africa, Obasanjo insisted that “education is one of the tools we can use to banish poverty. Where there’s no education, invariably, there will be poverty.”

According to Obasanjo, a country’s leadership has a big role to play in dealing with hardship and lack.

He said: “In all works of life, we must have leaders whose characters display ‘communality’.

“Leadership is the greatest ingredient for ending poverty. There’s no human endeavour that does not thrive on leadership.

“To get it right, we must ensure no child is uneducated.

“Nigeria can eliminate hunger and poverty with integrity, discipline, and good governance.

“We can do it if China can lift 700 million people out of poverty.

“Nigeria should have no business with abject poverty. If we don’t take responsibility, we all sit on a gunpowder keg.

“Until we banish poverty in Africa, international communities will not recognize us as a serious continent,” he said.