Former president Olusegun Obasanjo has expressed deep concern over the level of unemployment in Nigeria and youths restiveness.
Obasanjo said they are implications that the country may be sitting on a keg of gunpower.
The ex-president was quoted to have made the statement in an interview with Financial Times monitored by the Channels Television
“Our youth are restive. And they are restive because they have no skill. They have no empowerment. They have no employment. We are all sitting on a keg of gunpowder. And my prayer is that we will do the right thing before it’s too late”, he warned.
The elder statesman’s stance comes following ongoing #Endbadgovernance nationwide protests by the youths over hunger and hardship in the country.
Youths across the country have embarked on protests since August 1, a development which has since escalated with reports and incidences of violence and lootings recorded across the country.
Speaking further, Obasanjo said Nigeria’s economy would have been much better if it had not relied on just crude oil production.
He described the country’s reliance on crude oil as a “deadly mistake”.
“I believe we made a deadly mistake by putting all our eggs in one basket by relying on oil. We had a very important commodity, gas, but we were flaring it,” he said.
“The failure of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), the International Oil Companies, and other national oil companies to ramp up oil production to meet the country’s needs.
Obasanjo said Nigeria could have invested more in Agriculture as against crude oil.
“We ignored Agriculture which could have been the centrepiece of our investment.”
The former president then touched on the reason that Nigeria’s four refineries have remained moribund despite huge investments and attempts at revamping them.
He recalled how he persuaded Shell to run the country’s refineries but the International Oil Company refused, saying there was too much corruption in the sector.
“When I was president, I invited shell to come and take equity and run our refineries for us. They refused and said our refineries were not well maintained. We brought amateurs instead of professionals. Then there was too much corruption with the way our refineries were maintained. They didn’t want to get involved in such a mess,’ he said.
He condemned the government’s disposition towards getting the refineries back on their feet.
“How many times have they told us that the refineries would be fixed, and at what price? Those problems as far as the government refineries are concerned have never gone. They have even increased. And if you have such problems, and the problems have not been removed, then, it means we are not going anywhere.”
