Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has identified leadership as the bane of development in African nations.
Obasanjo submitted that when leaders are poorly formed, nations are fractured, sources are stolen, children without education go to bed hungry, and young people with bright futures abandon hope and take “dangerous risks” in search of greener pastures.
He spoke on Thursday in Abeokuta, Ogun State, while addressing graduates of the Olusegun Obasanjo Leadership Institute (OOLI).
The convocation ceremony took place during the former President’s 89th birthday lecture with the theme: ‘The Global Africa Enlightenment: From Chains to Renaissance’.
The lecture held at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library in Abeokuta attracted prominent personalities, including former Presidential candidates of the Labour Party (LPM and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso, respectively; Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun; his predecessors, Senator Ibikunle Amosun and Otunba Gbenga Daniel.
According to Obasanjo, he founded this institute because after his five decades of public life, he has seen that Africa’s greatest deficit is not money, not land, not intellect, but leadership.
While identifying leadership as a bane of Africa’s development, he said, “I’ve seen what one well-formed leader can do”. He said “one leader with vision, with discipline, with integrity, with better service and incorruptibility, with courage to serve rather than take” can transform a community, rescue an institution, redirect a nation.
