Nigeria’s problem man-made, not spiritual — Obasanjo

Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has stated that the widespread poverty in Africa is man-made and not an act of God.

He said this on Monday at the opening ceremony of the FESTAC Africa Festival at the Jomo Kenyatta Stadium in Kisumu, Kenya.

The former head of state remarked that, given the continent’s abundant resources, there is no reason for its poverty.

He said, “Africa has no reason to be poor. Our poverty is not an act of God. We are steeped in poverty due to our poor mentality. We need to wake up because we have a wealth of resources.

“If you look back in history, you will see that whenever others needed to get work done, they came to Africa to transport black people to the so-called New World to make others rich. And that hasn’t stopped. The slave trade led to colonialism. We enrich others while remaining impoverished. We need to awaken.

“Structural adjustment was the idea of the World Bank. However, I disagreed because we lacked the structure. What exactly were we adjusting? They were simply deceiving us.”

Obasanjo also expressed nostalgia at the return of the Festival of Arts and Culture, whose second edition was held in Nigeria during his tenure as military head of state in 1977. The first edition of the widely acclaimed festival was held 11 years earlier in Dakar, Senegal, in 1966.

Recalling his experience when the festival was held in Nigeria 47 years ago, the former president said, “I am here to express my appreciation and thanks, first to the governor of Kisumu County, Anyang Nyong’o, for hosting FESTAC here and contributing to what I call a renaissance and rebirth of FESTAC. I feel a bit emotional because, as you heard, the first festival was held in Senegal in 1966, and there was no other for 11 years.

“Nigeria agreed to stage another edition of the festival in 1975. Despite preparations, a change of government led some people to suggest cancelling it. However, I insisted that we should proceed and successfully hosted it.”

He added that the event attracted black people from all over the world, including Papua New Guinea, Australia, and the United States, and was a success.

Obasanjo also acknowledged that the event was suspended for over four decades because “it was left entirely in the hands of the government.”