Abeokuta, Nigeria
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, says his administration left the economy of Nigeria better than it is now.
Obasanjo said his administration reshaped Nigeria’s economy and left it in a better shape when he left office in 2007.
The former president spoke in Abeokuta at the Safe Online Youth Fellowship Bootcamp and recalled the giant achievements recorded by his administration in eight years.
He said the country was set free from the bondage of debt and was placed on the pace for an uninterrupted democracy for 25 years.
“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,” Obasanjo said.
“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.”
He further defined success as leaving a place better than one found it, and said that he achieved that during his administration with excellent track records.
