.Condemns leadership failure in Africa
IBRAHIM QUADRI
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has denied the allegation that his administration mismanaged electricity funny to the tune of 16billion dollars, insisting that it was borne out of ignorance.
The ex-President made the remark during a live programme on three radio stations WASH 94.9FM, Lagos, Sweet 107.1FM, Abeokuta, and Eagle 7 Radio 103.7FM, titled, “BOILING POINT ARENA,” on Sunday and monitored by our correspondent.
Obasanjo also claimed that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC and the National Assembly had investigated the allegation and found nothing culpable in the alleged fraud in the power sector.
Immediate past President Muhammadu Buhari had alleged that one of the former Heads of State had bragged that he spent 16 billion dollars on power whereas there wasn’t anything to show for it.
Even though Buhari did not mention the name of the former president, people believed he was referring to the Obasanjo administration which spent billions on power projects.
But responding to the leadership failure in the country, Chief Obasanjo said, “But what more do you want to think? You yourself have said it. I’m just a moderator. The best way of fighting corruption is starting from the head. That is where corruption has to be fought.
To demonstrate how leadership works, he recalled, “I took 40 young Africans to Singapore when Lin Kuan Yew had handed over, I think he called himself Sunao Minister, although without a portfolio. But he was there to make sure things were still going right.
“And he spent two days with us and the African young leaders that I took there with us. I had an organization I called Africa Leadership Forum. And what I used to do is bring leaders from all over the world to address and spend time with these young Africans that I bring together under the auspices of Africa Leadership Forum.
“And when I asked Lin Kuan Yew to come, Lin Kuan Yew said, look, my friend, once I go against time, I am useless for 48 hours. Why don’t you bring these African young leaders to Singapore? And I said I have no money to bring them. He said, we will pay.
“So he paid for about 40 people I took them. They took young leaders from Kenya, young leaders from Zambia, from Nigeria, and we went. Two days, he was telling us, one thing that was, that we see, was that they had merit. You are appointed on merit, no matter what. So meritocracy. Second, you will have, as Lin Kuan Yew had, people irrespective of what you do, who want to smear you and all that.
“And Lin Kuan Yew told us, whenever there’s that, he opened up. Just as they had a leader who came up without even understanding what was going on in electricity, said $16 billion was used, and there’s no need for it. He was an ignorant leader.
“And when it was investigated by EFCC, by the National Assembly, they found that it was absolutely fake. It was due to the lack of understanding. And that is very important,” Obasanjo claimed.
He went further, “A leader must be able to understand, not in two cases of science and technology. You must be able to comprehend and understand the things that go on. So, when Lin Kuan Yew was going to finish with us, the African young leaders were anxious to get the magic. And they asked him, what is the magic for your success? And he said, there’s no magic. We did a few things right. And we continue to do them right.
“Then I said to my young African leaders, I said, that is your take away, go back on what is your country, what should your country do right that they’re not doing right?
“How can you make them do it right? And how can you make them continue to do them right? And let me give you our own country, Nigeria. I believe we did UPE right. Education is fundamental. But as soon as I left government, my successor didn’t believe that UPE should continue. I came back and we did UPE right. We have gone from Universal Primary Education to Universal Basic Education.
“Nine years, instead of six years. Some people, some states went to court. The Supreme Court ruled that the Federal Government has no business in primary education.
“How can you close the gap? When in a place like Anambra, you have 94, 95%. And in a place like Sokoto, you have 20, 25%. How do you close that gap? Unless there’s intervention. If not, it’s what we have. And I brought what I call UPE, UBEC. So that was the way we could influence.
“You won’t believe that some states will not go and take money from UPE because if you take money from UBEC, the federal government has the right to scrutinize and inspect how that money was being spent. So corruption will have to be fought from the top.
“Look, the officials, the so-called civil servants, they know what you are doing. And you cannot cover it from them. When you do it, those of them who want to go back can join in. There should be consequences for any misbehavior.
The elder statesman added, “And when I always say to people when I was in government, that if you want to go into politics and be an honest politician, a politician of integrity, you must have a second address. But those who make politics their profession, their trade, the only thing they do, will fall for anything, including being deeply involved in corruption. And if you have a second address, you will definitely try to be honest and be a man of integrity.
“And you talk about transformation and transactions. A transformation leader who does not want to grab. What are you grabbing? What for? And then you will also be able to see, look, what do you do? What is that you are doing? What purpose will it serve?
“Now, look at what has happened in Egypt. It’s springing. That is transformation leadership. Look at what is happening in Rwanda, that is transformation leadership. But in many other places in Africa, you don’t have what I have just mentioned in Egypt and in Rwanda. So, leadership and corruption, what can you do if leadership is not fighting corruption which is hydra-headed? Corruption is very hydra-headed and it’s deep.
“I think it was the Sultan of Sokoto, the father of the present Sultan, he said, corruption is like a ray on the barricade. As you are folding it on one side, it’s falling apart on the other side. And when you carry it on both sides, you cannot hold your hands up indefinitely. And as soon as you put your hand down, it’s falling apart and that is corruption. It’s not a one-day affair. It’s not a one-regime affair. It’s not even a two-regime affair. It has to be consistent, it has to be continual. It has to be a daily affair.
“Once one regime lets off its spurs, those who are in that business of corruption can outweigh one regime. They can bow down to a regime. But then they can also sprint up almost as if nothing has happened. So that’s what you have.”
The former president maintained that the country would have to look at a consensus approach to handling Nigeria’s peculiarity.
He noted, “Democracy, as we got it from the West, because that’s all they have, what I call liberal democracy, has not worked for us because the content and the context of that democracy is foreign to us. And even the people that give it to us, are complaining.
“Not too long ago, Britain had a Prime Minister that was even voted for. I’ve seen that in Britain, where the totality of the votes cast for a particular party is less than the other party. And the one that has the totality of the vote that is less has more members of parliament. That’s their own system, that’s their democracy. But will you accept that as a perfect democracy?
“The Americans have where you may even have the majority. Americans call it the Electoral College. So, you may have the majority, like what happened not too long ago but if the electoral college is not in your favour, your majority amount to nothing.
“So, the point is this. I believe that in our own system, we are traditional. We don’t have a leader for opposition. We have a consensus. We sit down, we talk, and then after we have a meeting, everybody agrees. The word opposition in almost all African languages is enemy.
“We all talk of loyal enemy. But in the Western liberal democracy, which it came from monarchy, you can be loyal to the monarchy, but not loyal to the opposition or to the government which you oppose. I believe we need to do a lot of research for ourselves.
“Democracy as defined by the American President Lincoln. Government of the people, by the people, for the people, all the people. But what do we have today? Government of the few, by the few. Not for the people, against the people. Government of the few, by the few, invariably against the people. Now, that cannot continue.
“While discussing with a friend, I said, look, let us look at it. He said, well, should we call it a full democracy? I said if you want to call it that way. But the idea of communalism, the idea of consensus must come on the part and parcel of the democracy that we practice,” he argued.
Obasanjo further said, “Then you have a constitution. What constitution do we have? What does our constitution do? And what does it bring up? That is another thing. Some people now are saying, look, we should look at our constitution again. If in the past we did not want state police, should we reconsider it? Maybe.
“I was in Colombia, they scrapped state police or provincial police. But when they had serious security problems, they looked at it again and they brought them back. Then you come, there may be other areas of our constitution that you will need to look at.
“Then you come to governance. Some people said, oh yes, we have a presidential system that is making the cost of governance high. Is it a presidential system that makes us to have a president that has a retinue of people? Vice President ditto, Speaker ditto, President of the Senate ditto. It’s not the presidential system. It is the people who run the presidential system. People who are heartless.
“If you have a parliamentary system, you will have a Prime Minister, you will have a Deputy Prime Minister, you will have a Speaker. If it goes the same way, you will not come out of it.
“So, for me, it’s not so much the system, it’s so much the people. And that’s where I come to the fourth, leaders and leadership. And if we get leadership right, we will get other things right.”
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