Former President Goodluck Jonathan contends that Nigeria lacks substantiation to be hailed as the “Giant of Africa.”
Despite being projected to become the world’s third-most populous country by 2050, Nigeria has earned the moniker “Giant of Africa” primarily due to its extensive population.
Addressing an audience on Tuesday in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city, during the launch of the book titled “Development as Attitude,” written by Osita Ogbu, the former Minister of National Planning, Jonathan emphasized the necessity for a transformation in the mindset of leaders to align with the national interests of the country.
“I actually believe that for us as a nation to develop, it’s not just about being elected president. Even if you bring angels from heaven as the president and the attitude of Nigerians doesn’t change, we may not move very fast,” Jonathan said.
“Every leader must be guided by a personal philosophy. I agree that holding a political office does not automatically make somebody a leader.
“I had the privilege of holding a political office but leadership requires some attributes and those attributes mean that you must have a clear vision and you must have something that guides you.”
In reflecting on his tenure and the initiatives undertaken to promote Nigeria’s scientific programs, the ex-president remarked that the excessive focus on domestic politics within the country has hindered overall national advancement.
“I remember when I was in office, we had a nuclear and satellite programme but somehow the rate we are moving is too slow and even when I was an acting president, I was invited by the president of the US when they had the first nuclear summit and why I was invited was because Nigeria has a nuclear programme,” he said.
“In society now, in any country, you are respected because of what you can offer to the world, especially in terms of development. In Nigeria, we have the best brains but until we encourage these best brains, our satellite programmes will become vegetative and our nuclear programmes will just be rotating without any movement.
“We came up with a programme that we called the presidential special scholarship for innovation and development, it was my own idea. I called the NUC chairman then, Professor Julius Okojie, the minister of education, and other key stakeholders.”
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However, Jonathan asserted that the House of Representatives criticized the program, citing the omission of “certain states.”
“We must see how we must tap our best brains in the STEM areas and see how we can send them to the best universities in the world,” he continued.
“If we run this programme for another 10 years, believe me, Nigerians will also be thinking about going to space.
“We cannot continue to say we’re giants of Africa and we crawl like garden snails. People say we’re giants but giants are crawling. Our respect is almost going down because technologically we’re not going anywhere.”
Jonathan praised Ogbu for authoring the book, expressing confidence in its ability to provide valuable insights for addressing the nation’s challenges.
In reply, Ogbu highlighted that numerous poor decisions made by citizens stem from the growing disparity between the wealthy and the impoverished. He called upon stakeholders to devise creative solutions for combating poverty.