I left Nigeria better than I met it - Obasanjo touts achievement

Former President Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo believes his administration was one of the best in the country has ever experienced especially with its handling of the economy.

Obasanjo who was the president of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007 recounted the milestone chalked by his administration while speaking in Abeokuta, yesterday, at the Safe Online Youth Fellowship Bootcamp organised by NerdzFactory Company, supported by Meta at the Youth Development Centre, Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL).

He stressed that he was responsible for setting Nigeria 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.

He said: “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.

“I found $3.7 billion in the reserves and we were spending $3.5 billion to service our debt. By the time I left, we had a debt of about $36 billion with the debt relief, and I left with a debt of $3.6 billion. Also, I left a reserve of over $50 billion. I also achieved excess crude for the country worth over $25 billion.”

Obasanjo said simply that he left the economy in a much better place than he found it.

Speaking to corps members from Lagos and Ogun states, who participated in the three-day boot camp, he urged them 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.”