Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said that developed countries are willing to do business with Nigeria but are also scared away by insecurity and corruption.
Obasanjo said this on Thursday while addressing youths under the platform of the National Youths Council of Nigeria (NYCN) who visited him at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), Abeokuta, Ogun State.
The youths also honoured the former president as “Father of the Nation”.
“Most of these developed countries want to do businesses with us but almost all of them are afraid, because of insecurity and corruption in the land.
“We behave like ostrich that buries its head in the sand. These developed countries know us more than ourselves.
“As a result, we shouldn’t keep saying or do things that will make us a laughing stock. God has given us a country, no matter what you feel about Nigeria.
“Don’t let us fall into the primordial life of breaking this country along ethnicity and religion. Let every Nigerian stand firm and say it is my country, because we have no alternative,” he said.
Obasanjo said he was concerned that more than 13 million Nigerians are out of schools.
“I have on several occasions called for interventions in the educational system of the country. The government only needs to re-introduce the former shift programme. In doing this, there will be morning and afternoon shifts for the students,” he said.
The 82-year-old urged the youths not to be discouraged in their ambition to hold leadership positions in the country.
