Obasanjo Is 70
By
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria's president and commander-in-chief of the Armed forces, turns 70, March 5
By Chris Ajaero
He is an accomplished soldier, elder stateman, farmer, author and leader of leaders. Matthew Okikiola Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo, president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who clocked 70, March 5, is no doubt a fulfilled man.
Born in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Obasanjo was destined for greatness right from childhood. After his primary education, he proceeded to Baptist Boys High School, Abeokuta, for his post primary education.
In 1958, he enlisted in the Nigerian Army. He was sent to England for training at Mons Officers Cadet School, Aldershot, Royal College of Military Engineering, Chattam and School of Survey, Newbury.
He served in the 5th battalion, Nigerian Army, Kaduna and the Cameroons between 1958 and 1959 when he was commissioned second lieutenant. In 1968, he was promoted lieutenant and during this period, he was part of the Nigerian contingent to the United Nations Force in the Congo. Thereafter, Obasanjo joined the engineering unit of the Nigerian Army and later became its commander in 1963. He was promoted lieutenant colonel in 1967.
As a colonel in 1969, he was the general officer commanding 3rd Infantry Division of the Nigerian Army during the civil war. Obasanjo was commander, 3rd Marine Commando Division which prosecuted the final battle that led to the capitulation of Biafran rebellion in January 1970.
It is significant that Obasanjo persuaded Major-General Philip Effiong, then Biafran administrator to renounce secession and re-embrace the cause of one Nigeria. This marked the end of the civil war and the beginning of process of reconciliation, rehabilitation and reconstruction.
For his gallantry, Obasanjo was promoted brigadier and was appointed federal commissioner for Works and Housing in 1972 by General Yakubu Gowon, then head of state. He served in that capacity until 1975 when he was appointed chief of staff Supreme Headquarters and member of the Supreme Military Council, SMC, under General Murtala Mohammed's regime. This marked the beginning of Obasanjo's involvement in the decision-making body of the Federal Government.
As the number two man to Mohammed, Obasanjo was widely regarded as the brain behind the throne. But six months later, the assassin's bullets ended Mohammed's life and his regime. And Obasanjo stepped into his shoes in February 1976. He came to power not through a coup d'etat but providence. He set about the difficult and delicate task of completing a transition programme began by his predecessor with a zeal that most people found pleasantly surprising. He handed over power to the democratically elected government of Shehu Shagari, Nigeria's first executive president in 1979 and retired to his Ota Farm where he became a chicken farmer.
However, as a patriot, he turned his Ota Farm into an international conference centre of sort with farm dialogue to which eminent scholars, prominent politicians, and leaders of government from various parts of the world were invited to talk over problems of the world. Consequently, Obasanjo grew larger in stature and influence. He was a member of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group, which did a great deal to influence the peaceful change in South Africa.
But on March 13, 1995, he was arrested by late General Sani Abacha's government for alleged involvement in a phantom coup. He was jailed and almost injected with a virus that would have killed him in prison. Luckily for him, he was released from jail following the death of Abacha. and the emergence of General Abdulasalami Abubakar as his successor on June 9, 1998.
Fortune again smiled on him in April 1999 when he was elected president of Nigeria. He said that his decision to serve Nigeria again as a civilian president was to enable him restore the legacies he left behind in October 1979 when he handed over power to the Shagari administration. Such legacies include, a healthy economy with robust reserve in which the Naira exchanged for two dollars, an independent and courageous judiciary, as well as a nation, which commanded international respect. He had in the past seven-and-a-half years of his administration made conscious efforts to restore the lost glory of Nigeria. He said his vision was for Nigeria to emerge as one of the 20 largest economies in the world by 2020.
The major pivot his administration has used to achieve this goal is the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy, NEEDS. According to him, NEEDS is the response to the development challenges of Nigeria and it is intended to lay a solid foundation for sustainable poverty reduction, employment generation, wealth creation, and value re-orientation. "Nigeria has all it takes (human and material resources) to become the strongest economy in Africa-and one of the leading economies in the world in the longer term. The goal of NEEDS is to mobilise the resources of Nigeria to make fundamental break with the failures of the past and bequeath a united, and prosperous nation to the generations to come."
Although the Obasanjo administration is yet to take Nigeria to the promised land, it has achieved results in certain areas. These include an emerging new positive image for Nigeria in the international community, the expansion in the telecommunication sector leading to enormous job creation by the GSM firms, and the $18 billion debt forgiveness by the Paris Club of creditors.
Other areas where President Obasanjo has positively impacted on the lives of Nigerians are his relentless war against the dreaded HIV/AIDS pandemic through the National Action Committee on AIDS, NACA, as well as the improvement in the condition of the Nigerian roads through the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency, FERMA.
The establish-ment of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, by the Obasanjo administration has equally transformed many of the oil producing communities, which had suffered neglect in the past.
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency, NIMET, is another organisation, which the Obasanjo administration has effectively utilised to provide Nigerians with reliable and accurate weather data for socio-economic planning. It is remarkable that President Obasanjo had in November 2002 commissioned the NIMET Green House project and on 17th June 2003 signed the Act establishing NIMET as an agency after many years of existence.
Many Nigerians believe that at 70, Obasanjo has as a leader re-invented the Nigerian state. Ojo Maduekwe, former minister of Transport and National Secretary of the People's Democratic Party, PDP, believes that the historic mission of the Obasanjo administration "is defined not only by the moral imperative of his reform agenda but also by the painful transition from a system of sharing public office for private gains to one of creating sustainable development that truly creates wealth."
L.E. Akeh, director-general of NIMET, described President Obasanjo as a man of destiny who has through his "foresight, determination and resolve to foster a new Nigeria etched his name in the sands of time as the architect of a reformed Nigeria."
Aliko Damcida, a historian, sees President Obasanjo as one of the luckiest Nigerian leaders. He said: "Of all the past Nigerian leaders, Obasanjo remains the luckiest, the most courageous, the most dynamic, the most widely travelled, the most influential worldwide and the greatest achiever, having occupied the highest and most difficult position in the country thrice-1976-1979 as Head of State and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces under the military regime and 1999-2003 as well as 2003 till date as President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces under a civilian regime."
Certainly, at 70, President Obasanjo has written his name boldly in gold in Nigerian history as a patriot and well-focused reformist.
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