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From George Onyejiuwa, Owerri
Former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan at the weekend took a fresh look at the myriad of problems besetting the nation and concluded that no single individual or group could solve the problems.
“People have said a lot of things about the problems of Nigeria. There is no point joining issues with anybody, but all I can say is that no one person can solve the nation’s problems,” the former president said.
Jonathan made the observation at the 5th memorial lecture and the formal unveiling of Professor Celestine Onwuliri Foundation (PROFOUND), held at Nnarambia in the Ahiazu Mbaise Council Area of Imo State.
The former president who was represented by former secretary to the government of the federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, explained that the nation could only wriggle out her socio-economic and political travails with an efficacious structural composition and comprehensive diagnosis of her problems.
The ex-president insisted that Nigeria requires a leader with an uncommon knowledge, wisdom and determination to implement the recommendation of the nation’s conference.
He described the infamous Dana plane crash of Sunday, June 3, 2012, which claimed the life of Professor Onwuliri and other prominent Nigerians as the saddest and darkest moment of his administration and prayed God to grant their souls eternal rest.
Speaking earlier on the memorial lecture which had the theme, “The problem with Nigeria,” former Anambra State governor, Mr. Peter Obi, decried the borrowing spree for consumption by the nation’s leaders, which he noted had further pauperized the masses.
As the former governor of Anambra State, he reiterated that he never borrowed a dime to govern the state because he never saw the reason for this unlike the present crop of leaders who have embarked on a borrowing jamboree without anything to show for it but only to bag chieftaincy titles and merit awards from traditional rulers and organization.
“Development reflection is what we need and the process of selecting our leaders must change because the current system is poor hence the leadership is poor. A leader should live by example and his character should be consistent. We should begin to hold our leaders responsible for their failure to meet our worthy expectations. Nigeria as a nation is not poor,” he stated.
Invariably, former governor Ikedi Ohakim of Imo State humorously disagreed with Obi, saying that the problem with Nigeria is not that of bad leadership, stressing that otherwise such leaders as Peter Obi, Paschal Dozie, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim would not have emerged.
“Our problem is the structure that produces leadership and if we can get the structure right, Nigeria will be a better place, otherwise, even if you bring in Jesus Christ in the structure He will fail.”
