Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has described Nigeria as a nation still in the making, urging everyone serving the country at any level not to see their task as complete, as much work remains ahead.
He made the remarks on Thursday in Abuja during the public presentation of Being True To Myself, the autobiography of former Jigawa State Governor, Alhaji Sule Lamido.
Obasanjo said, “Nigeria that we are working for, we haven’t gotten there. And I believe it is each of us’s responsibility to ensure that we get there.
“Our job is not finished until we are finished.”
The former Nigerian leader expressed appreciation to the author, who served as Foreign Affairs Minister under his administration, for his outstanding efforts in promoting Nigeria’s image on the global stage.
Obasanjo noted that he had been scheduled to be in the Democratic Republic of Congo but chose to attend the event instead as a gesture of gratitude for the author’s tireless service to the nation.
Obasanjo said, “Your upbringing I found very instructive. I didn’t know you in your NEPU days. We came to know ourselves when we came to be in government together.
“And now, how did our paths cross? The chairman of a party, rightly I believe, has an idea of who the vice president should be. I also have an idea of who the vice president should be. We tried to reconcile our two ideas, and we settled.
“And when we settled, we decided that my candidate would be the vice president and the chairman’s candidate would be the foreign minister. But then, the chairman’s candidate, who we agreed to be the foreign minister, declined.
“And then, the choice of Lamido as foreign minister became my responsibility. Because I saw him as the closest, or one of the closest, persons to the person who had declined to be the foreign minister.
“Sule Lamido has admirable character, and I admire him. I did not want a situation where the minister would do something wrong and I would want to say, ‘Look, Mr. Minister, thank you, you can go,’ and there would be a problem.
“I said all my ministers should give me undated letters of resignation. Sule Lamido came to me and said, ‘You appointed me, and I did not ask you to appoint me. You think I will fall?’ I acceded to his request.
“And of course, he didn’t have to give me a letter of resignation. And I had no cause to ask him to give a letter of resignation.
“I want to emphasize the difficulty or the difficult situation that we were in. To remember, Nigeria had become a pariah state. So we had a lot to do, both inside and outside.
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“But Sule Lamido was the agent of the outside. And any time he went out, I wanted to know what the reaction was, what impact we were making, how we were changing or not changing the impression of the outsiders about Nigeria.
“And so they did such a magnificent job, such a magnificent job, that within the three years of our coming to government, the Queen of Britain and the Queen of the Commonwealth actually came to Nigeria to participate in the CHOGM that we had.
“And that was actually the greatest indication that we had now been accepted—no matter what the past was—that we have now been accepted by the international community: in Africa, in the Commonwealth, in the United Nations, and everywhere.
“Again, as a result of my regular visits to you in Jigawa, I could say without any shred of doubt that you performed adequately as a governor.
“So, of course, it’s no difficulty for me to write the foreword. You are in your own right now a stateman. I think what I will say is: the young shall grow. And the young is growing. But when you find the young has grown, then your job is not finished,” Obasanjo said.
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