Most Nigerian government officials are empty-headed – Obasanjo

On Monday, ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo said that most Nigerian politicians are hollow, claiming that they are ill-equipped to handle the responsibilities of their posts.

As Obasanjo put it, “You will weep for our nation over their level of emptiness as far as development issues are concerned.”

The wise man admitted that he backs moderate change, since a complete overhaul would be counterproductive.

Obasanjo has tasked the newly elected leaders of Nigeria with removing the country’s obstacles to growth, but he has expressed disappointment that so few of them are actually willing to do so.

At the Abuja book launch for former minister Olusegun Aganga’s book, “Reclaiming The Jewel of Africa,” the former president made this statement in a videotaped keynote address.

Obasanjo’s Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Akinyemi, released a statement in which he said that while he agreed with the author’s need for reforms, “total dismantling is destructive and retrogressive.”

He said, “adequate emphasis is not placed on leadership as the crucial and critical defining and decisive factor in determining the shape, form, direction, speed, content, and trajectory of development for any human organisation and especially for a nation like Nigeria.”

According to him, “leadership is the key to unlock and remove the impediment to Nigeria’s attainment of its divine stature and status and being kept a Lilliputian.”

He claimed that most of the country’s leaders are “so empty on development issues that you will weep for your nation if you ask them why they want to be in the position they are craving for.”

What do they think it means for there to be lasting calm, safety, predictability, growth, improvement, and prosperity? Peace, security, democracy, and wealth are all interdependent, in my opinion.