NEWS
“Nigeria will Die if we keep pretending” — Obasanjo
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo is front and center tackling the Nigerian government over the economic situation of the country.
The former military and democratic leader in a recent appearance has issued a dire warning about Nigeria’s survival, stating that the country’s corruption crisis has reached a “fatal stage.”
Speaking at the Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum at Yale University in the United States over the weekend, Obasanjo’s keynote address on Leadership Failure and State Capture in Nigeria painted a bleak but unflinchingly honest picture of the nation’s struggles.
Read More:
“How she got me out of prison alive” — Obasanjo
Tinubu Attends G20 Summit in Brazil with Key Ministers
According to Obasanjo, corruption in Nigeria is no longer just an “alarming” issue—it has become a systemic rot that threatens the nation’s very existence.
Backing his claims with stark statistics, he revealed that over ₦700 billion in bribes was paid to public officials in 2023 alone, with most of these transactions happening either on the streets or in the offices of those entrusted with public service.
“Corruption goes with power; therefore, to hold any useful discussion of corruption, we must first locate it where it properly belongs – in the ranks of the powerful,” Obasanjo said.
Obasanjo referenced Nigeria’s dismal ranking of 150 out of 180 countries in Transparency International’s 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index. This position, he argued, showcases how deeply entrenched corruption has become in Nigeria’s political and socio-economic systems.
“It is, in my opinion, and those of many, the most serious developmental challenge to the nation,” he declared.
The former president didn’t mince words about the ripple effects of corruption. From insecurity and youth restiveness to underdevelopment and economic depression, he asserted that Nigeria’s woes are interconnected symptoms of a leadership failure rooted in greed and systemic malpractice.
Despite the grim diagnosis, Obasanjo struck a hopeful tone, suggesting that Nigeria can still recover if the twin evils of corruption and immorality are addressed head-on. Echoing Chinua Achebe’s timeless critique in The Trouble with Nigeria, he reiterated:
“The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership.”