I made Nigeria better than I found it –Obasanjo

Former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, has said his administration recorded landmark achievements.

Obasanjo, who was president between 1999 and 2007, said Nigeria’s economic outlook was improved during his tenure.

Speaking at the Safe Online Youth Fellowship Bootcamp organised by NerdzFactory Company, supported by Meta at the Youth Development Centre, Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Obasanjo said he was responsible for setting the country free from the bondage of immense debt, adding that he takes pride in the celebration of the 25 years an uninterrupted democracy, which started during his reign as democratic ruler in 1999.

“When I came in as elected president, I wanted to get debt relief because we were spending $3.5 billion every year servicing debt and the quantum of the debt was not going down.  Today, I can say that I made Nigeria better than I found it from an economic perspective,” Obasanjo recalled.

“I found $3.7 billion in reserves, and we were spending almost all of that to service our debt. When I left office, we had achieved debt relief, reducing our debt to $3.6 billion while building up reserves to over $50 billion. I also facilitated an excess crude account worth over $25 billion.”

Reflecting on his tenure, Obasanjo, who defined success as leaving a place better than one found it, said that he achieved that in his administration with excellent track records. He admonished the corps members from Lagos and Ogun states, who participated in the three-day boot camp, to dedicate their lives to championing national development.

He said: “National development is a collective responsibility, and education is very important as an instrument that you can use to contribute optimally to national development.”

He also advised the youths to be dynamic, idealistic, inquisitive, and not take anything for granted. In his remarks, the founding partner, NerdzFactory Company, Ademulegun Olowojoba, explained that the boot camp was organised to empower the youths with skills to combat the growing threats and risks associated with the digital space where individuals are vulnerable to a series of cyberattacks.

He noted that the idea of engaging the corps members was to teach the secondary students at various schools where they are being posted as part of efforts to reduce teenage exposure to the digital threat.