“You know you can help somebody to get
the job, but you cannot help him to do it. If somebody cannot do the
job, we have Sule Lamido who we are confident can do the job,”
Ex President Olusegun Obasanjo he told a
crowd of would-be investors, dignitaries and ordinary folks in Dutse,
capital of Jigawa State yesterday.
It was at the opening of the First
Jigawa State Economic and Investment Summit at the Sir Amadu Bello Hall
at the state secretariat.
Obasanjo did not elaborate on his
statement and it was not immediately clear whether he was talking about
the 2015 election. Jigawa State Governor Lamido is being rumoured to be
interested in the presidential race with Rivers State Governor Rotimi
Amaechi as his running mate. He has said he is yet to think about 2015.
Although he did not mention the
President’s name in Dutse yesterday, Obasanjo has been critical of the
Dr. Goodluck Jonathan administration.
He has spoken against its handling of
the Boko Haram insurgency and the growing unemployment, saying it is a
bomb waiting to explode.
Obasanjo said the government should have
approached the Boko Haram insurgency the way he (Obasanjo) handled the
killing of security men in Odi (Bayelsa State) and Zaki Biam (Benue
State) communities when he was the president.
But President Jonathan fired back, saying the soldiers Obasanjo sent to Odi failed to get those who killed the security men.
Dr. Jonathan said as deputy governor of
Bayelsa State at the time, he discovered, when he visited Odi after the
military raid, that only women and children were killed by the soldiers.
Obasanjo has also in recent time,
distanced himself from activities of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ,
which is immersed in crises. He resigned his membership of the Board of
Trustees (BoT).
The former president however revealed
that, he was the one who imposed Lamido on the people of Jigawa. He is
happy that he was not disappointed, he said.
Obasanjo also called on governors to
maintain cordial relationship with the Federal Government so as to
ensure meaningful development.
He said there was need for governors to
show full cooperation with the government at the centre for the common
interest of the nation and its citizens.
The former President also described
Jigawa state as a fertile ground for investment. He urged both local and
international investors to locate their investment potentials in the
state.
According to him, Jigawa is not only
peaceful, it has acquired the needed infrastructure and resources
capable of boosting business and enterprises.
Obasanjo described Jigawa state as the
most investor-friendly in the country, citing stable security, peace and
huge presence of needed infrastructure as his reasons.
Obasanjo said the problem of the
country’s leadership is, “that of unmet expectations stressing that
governments must invest in the people’s education to overcome poverty,
redundancy and criminalities.
He explained that good governance is key
for any practical and factual economic development plan, “the
government is not expected to invest directly, but to provide enabling
environment for private investors to exploit.
“The way Sule Lamido has revitalised the
Jigawa State – education sector, adequate provision of good roads
network, infrastructure, social security, free trade – has now made the
state to be a haven for investors, and to the best of my knowledge,
today there is nowhere in Nigeria where investors can have confidence in
doing business that is greater than Jigawa State.
“I am optimistic that, this summit would
help in making out long-term economic plan that would lead to the
successful economic development that would be translated into the
increase of employment, wealth creation, poverty reduction and improve
the well-being of the people of the state and Nigeria”
Lamido recalled his inaugural speech six
years ago. He said: “As you all might be aware, our state manifests the
worst indices of underdevelopment.
“It was the electioneering campaign tour
that exposed me to the problems of our people in that most pathetic
degree. The tour brought me face to face with the uniquely unmitigated
case of underdevelopment called Jigawa state”, he said.
The governor observed that as he settled
down in office, he discovered that the elite in the state were living
in a world of their own that ensured total disconnect with the ordinary
citizens
He said his resolve to run the
government best practices in governance has helped to liberate the state
from the pains and agony of underdevelopment.
He said: “Today, we want to announce to
the whole world with all the noise we can muster that we are ready and
our doors are now open to take Jigawa to the next level”.
Chairman of the summit Lord Paul
Boateng, said he has the conviction that the state can become a ‘Super
Eagle’ in the economic world.
“Nigeria is Africa’s biggest direction
for foreign investment”, he said, warning that “we must also need to
recognise that Africa is the father of its own progress”.
In her vote of thanks, the Commissioner
for Commerce, Hajiya Hauwa Sulaiman Baffa, thanked Diamond Bank among
others for supporting the summit.
