Obasanjo Advises Nigerians To Be Patient With Reforms
FROM Seun Adeoye AND BERTRAM NWANNEKANMA Osogbo
President Obasanjo has called for patience and understanding over his government's on-going economic reforms in the country because the reforms were motivated by the need to restore the lost glory of the nation.
Obasanjo, who spoke at the dinner held in his honour by the Osun State government on Friday, said contrary to criticisms against the reforms being, they were driven by the imperative to steer the nation towards the path of total recovery.
"We have to have reforms to make us not do things the way we used to do them," he said. "How we perform inform and influence how people perceive us. We have to do what is right no matter whose ox is gored. Without those reforms, we cannot pull our country back from the brink. Without investment, we cannot get out of the level of poverty we find ourselves".
The international community, he said, has now started to see Nigeria as a serious nation because of the on-going reforms, "and we cannot afford to do things wrong".
"The international community has continued to call and give us more responsibilities. This is a God-given time for Nigeria to regain what we have lost, what the locust has eaten up. We should leave no stone unturned to ensure total recovery of the glory of Nigeria.
"We should avoid those things which make us to fail in the past. Because we are doing things in a different way now, other people in the world are feeling hopeful that Nigeria will bounce back. How we perform at home affects and influence how people outside look at us.
"In the past, every Nigerian was seen as a drug trafficker and an unreasonable person who is not to be trusted by others. The international community is now taking us serious because there are many good Nigerians outside there giving the country a good image. No stone will be left unturned to ensure the restoration of the good image of Nigeria".
The President recalled the last elections, which saw the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) dislodging the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in the South-West, saying he had been vindicated by the performance of the PDP governors in the geo-political zone.
He commended the PDP in the state for reconciling its members shortly after the primary election during which some of its gubernatorial aspirants were aggrieved.
He charged the five PDP governors in the West to consolidate on the gains his administration had made in the various sectors of the economy.
He urged them to give attention to agriculture, small and medium scale enterprises and infrastructure, saying they were the areas his administration was focussing its attention on to improve the conditions of the citizenry.
