Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has asserted that his administration left Nigeria’s economy in a better state than it is today.
Speaking at the Safe Online Youth Fellowship Bootcamp in Abeokuta, Obasanjo highlighted the significant economic reforms and achievements during his tenure from 1999 to 2007.
Obasanjo emphasized the strides made in reducing the country’s debt, noting that his administration secured substantial debt relief.
He underscored his administration’s role in establishing an uninterrupted democratic governance in Nigeria, a feat he described as setting the pace for the country’s democracy for the next 25 years.
Obasanjo stated, “When I came in as elected President, I wanted to get debt relief because we were spending $3.5 billion every year servicing debt and the quantum of the debt was not going down. Today, I can say that I made Nigeria better than I found it from an economic perspective.
“I found $3.7 billion in the reserves and we were spending $3.5 billion to service our debt. By the time I left, we had a debt of about $36 billion with the debt relief, and I left with a debt of $3.6 billion. Also, I left a reserve of over $50 billion. I also achieved excess crude for the country worth over $25 billion.”
The former president concluded by defining success as leaving a place better than one found it, claiming that his administration’s economic policies and outcomes exemplified this principle.
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