Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, legal luminaries, Aare Afe Babalola and Chief Mike Ozekhome yesterday lamented the poor state of affairs in the country, saying Nigeria was in dire straits.
Speaking during the 10th convocation 12th anniversary ceremonies of the Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD), Chief Obasanjo decried the deplorable state of roads in the country, saying it was making business movements difficult for Nigerians.
This came as legal luminary, Aare Afe Babalola, expressed worry over the rising debt profile of Nigeria saying efforts must be geared towards offsetting the N41.60 trillion debt for the country’s economic recovery.
Obasanjo who premised his lateness to the event on bad road said; “kindly accept my apologies. I thought if I leave Abeokuta at 4.30am that I will get to ABUAD at 10am. But when we got to the middle of the journey, the conditions of our roads were bad.
“We started asking which was the best route to take to get to Ado Ekiti. It was tough before we could get here, kindly pardon me”.
He commended the university’s founder, Afe Babalola(SAN) for replicating and surpassing in ABUAD, what he did at the University of Lagos, when he appointed him the Pro-Chancellor and chairman of Governing Council, saying ; “I am proud to associate with ABUAD.”
In his address, Babalola who also called for the restoration of the 1960/63 constitutions made by the founding fathers of the country posited that education could not be detached from other challenges facing the country.
He therefore suggested that a committee to launch a Special Debt Liquidating Fund by all patriotic Nigerians be set up.
“I will suggest that the committee should be headed by President Obasanjo and consist of Gen. Gowon, Bishop Kukah, the president of NLC, president ASUU, president of Students Union, and members of professional associations like NBA, NMA, NUJ, NSE, COREN, MDCN among others.
“It is obvious that we cannot isolate education from these other problems. If Nigeria cannot service its debt, how can it pay ASUU the huge debt?
“Who says Nigeria cannot pay its debts? When Obasanjo took over in 1999, the first thing he did was to spend the first two years going round the Paris Club and other creditor countries to beg for debt forgiveness.
“If the most resourceful and diligent angel descends from heaven to Nigeria today to rule Nigeria, unless we change the constitution and pay out debt, he cannot succeed in managing the country.
“The first duty of any sincere and diligent government or any other organisation is to pay its debts and achieve a balanced economy and break even.”
In his lecture entitled: “The Place of Education in a Crisis-ridden Nigeria” , Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) a Senior Advocate of Nigeria described the menaces of surging school abduction, banditry and endless borrowing as evils now killing Nigeria’s education system and portending bold signs of a “failed” state.
