SAN FRANCISCO, September 27, (THEWILL) – Former President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has declared his support for the sales of some public assets but added a caveat that it must be done transparently and actually sold to the public and not to cabals, their relations and friends.
He made this known in his goodwill message at the opening session of a two-day National Council of Finance and Economic Development conference held at the Green Legacy Resort, Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta, adding that the number of shares an individual or corporate entity should buy in such public assets to be sold should be regulated.
Obasanjo insisted that he foresaw the current economic recession the country is currently going through in 2014 and he hinted of its consequences recalling that he warned about the recession in 2014 was contained in a lecture he delivered at the 80th birthday ceremony of Justice Akanbi on 26th November, 2014.
“For me, we have brought it on ourselves, we don’t have to wring our hands and say ‘where are we? In a simple layman’s language, the situation is that we are spending more than we are earning. We have not been able to save, so that we can go and take from what we have saved,” he said.
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“If you are spending more than you are earning, you will have to spend less, you earn more and you borrow.
“For us, we are to do the three as quickly as possible, we must borrow and we must go to the people that will give us loan with reasonable interest.
“You may do it with the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund. I don’t say we must not go to them. When I was in government, I never say no to them, but don’t do their bidding. Out there, there is money but people will not part with their money unless you are doing the right thing.”
“I was shocked when the ban on importation of toothpick which we imposed in 1977 was lifted four years ago.
“How can a nation seeking to rank among the best in the world continue like that? We must begin to do away with things that we can do without.
“I do not see why 48 per cent of the NNPC cannot be privatised. I think the problem is in the coinage ‘selling of asset’ as if we want to throw out our inheritance. What we are actually doing by that is simply reorganising.
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“It should however be done transparently and let it actually go public and not to cabals, their relations and friends. This is always the fear of Nigerians when issues like this arise.”
The former President also expressed confidence the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, saying that “she is doing a marvelous job in a difficult situation and that only time can prove her right.”
Story by David Oputah
