From Laide Raheem, Abeokuta
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has blamed the Federal Government’s policy somersaults in the last 15 years for the inability to produce the country’s own satellite.
Obasanjo lamented that the failure to float a Nigerian satellite meant advancement in the country’s technological drive would continue to be a mirage.
He said the plan by his administration between 1999 and 2007 was to build a satellite wholly by Nigerians at the third attempt, but, government afterwards could not just understand.
Obasanjo made this disclosure in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Akinyemi, when the management team of Algorism Limited, led by its Chief Executive Officer, Rasheed Adegoke, paid him a courtesy visit at his Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) Penthouse residence at the weekend.
The former president who recalled his role for the country’s technological growth said: “We made the Chinese to train 120 Nigerians on how to build the Satellite. The plan was that they will build the first satellite, and to build the second one they will have to train 120 Nigerians who will build the second satellite with them, and by the third attempt, we should be able to build a satellite on our own. “But the 120 Nigerians were no where to be found again. They were not dead, but the government that came after us, just could not understand, and that is also part of the misfortune of Nigeria. I met the Nigerians when I later went to China,” Obasanjo said.
On request for mentoring by the company’s head, the former president said his doors were open for anybody as long as he remained healthy as evidenced by the two hours daily squash game he plays.
Earlier, Adegoke said his team, including workers of the company were at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) for a retreat, and deemed it wise to pay a courtesy visit on the ex-president and congratulate him ahead of his 86th birthday.