Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said
the country is currently facing economic
problems due to the failure of the Goodluck
Jonathan administration to plan for a rainy day. He told Iyalodes and eminent women leaders
from the South-West, who visited him at his
Hilltop residence in Abeokuta, Ogun State, that
the nation’s reserves which as of 2007 stood at
$67bn had been depleted by the Federal
Government. The former President was responding to a call
by the delegation led by the Iyalode of
Yorubaland, Chief Alaba Lawson, and the
Iyaloja General of Nigeria, Chief Folashade
Tinubu-Ojo, to lend his voice to the socio-
economic crisis rocking the country. Stressing that the country did not deserve the
situation it currently finds itself, Obasanjo
vowed that he would not keep quiet until the
right things were done. He said, “When I was leaving office about eight
years ago, I left a very huge reserve after we
had paid all our debts. “Almost $25bn we kept in what they called
Excess Crude Account, it was the excess from
the budget we were saving as reserve for a
rainy day. “When we left in May 2007, the reserve was
said to have risen to $35bn. But today, that
reserve has been depleted. “After paying our debts which was about
$40bn, including debt forgiveness, the
remaining (debt) was not more than $3bn.
“Our reserves after we had paid off these debts
amounted to about $45bn. As I said, they
continued to rise till the end of 2007. I heard that the reserves increased to almost $67bn
before the end of the year. “Our reserves now, I learnt, stand at only
$30bn.” Although he noted that the slump in oil price
would naturally have a negative impact on a
monolithic economy like Nigeria, Obasanjo said
that “ anyone who is wise enough should
know that since we depend on just one
mineral resource and since we have no control over its pricing, we should be planning for this
type of situation we currently find ourselves
and the way out of it.” The former President lamented that “our
inability to have healthy reserves had brought
us to “this economic quagmire.” He added, “A leader must be forward-looking
and plan ahead. At the beginning of last year,
the budget was based on $78 per barrel. That
year, the Federal Government spent more on
recurrent expenditure and a little on capital
expenditure.” Obasanjo also pointed out that the devaluation
of the naira had unleashed other consequences
on the economy. He rated the Jonathan administration as colossal
failure, grounded by ineptitude.

Source: http://www..com/talk/topic,229658.0.html

as a Nigerian am just thinking nd I want u to express ur thought alongside mine. Why do you have to give ur 2015 - 2019 vote to a GEJ who have succeded in elevating d security problems of dis nation. Someone who gives boastful excuses that his political opponents are responsible for the regular killings, bombing, kidnapping, prison breaks etc. which is now d norm in d north instead of showing interest more in providing solutions to all these problems? As 4 me I dont want to see part 2 of Abubakar Shekau d blood sucker. I believe in GMB for reasonabe solutions instead of unreasonable excuses. Think wisely nd put Nigeria future first in d up comming election. God bless Nigeria.