Nigeria sitting on keg of gunpowder, Obasanjo warns

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo says Nigeria is sitting on a keg of gunpowder, lamenting the hardship being experienced by citizens.

Obasanjo gave this warning in his remarks during Dele Momodu’s leadership lecture on Friday.

He stressed that if China could succeed in lifting 700 million people out of poverty, Nigeria should not have anything to do with abject poverty.

Obasanjo, who proffered a lasting solution to hunger across Africa, insisted that “education is one of the tools we can use to banish poverty. Where there’s no education, invariably, there will be poverty.”

The former president noted that a country’s leadership has a big role to play in dealing with hardship and lack.

According to him, “In all walks of life, we must have leaders whose characters display ‘communality’.

“Leadership is the greatest ingredient for ending poverty. There’s no human endeavour that does not thrive on leadership.

“To get it right, we must ensure no child is uneducated.

“Nigeria can eliminate hunger and poverty with integrity, discipline, and good governance.

“We can do it if China can lift 700 million people out of poverty.

“Nigeria should have no business with abject poverty. If we don’t take responsibility, we all sit on a gunpowder keg.

“Until we banish poverty in Africa, international communities will not recognise us as a serious continent.”