Former Nigerian Vice President, Abubakar Atiku has given a run-down of how the former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo ran the government of Nigeria with him from 1999 to 2007.
Speaking Wednesday when he declared his Presidential ambition on the platform of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar regretted that all the gains they made for Nigeria have been reduced to emptiness by the present crop of leadership.
“As Vice President of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007, I worked closely with my boss, President Olusegun Obasanjo, who is also a passionate defender of Nigerian unity. We re-integrated our country into the international community following years of isolation; we professionalized our armed forces; we embarked on fundamental economic reforms articulated by an Economic Team, which I had the honour to chair. We focused on macro-economic stability and transforming critical areas such as banking, insurance, oil and gas, telecommunication, pension and the Civil Service. We created novel institutions that should lay the foundation for good governance and accountability such as the Bureau of Procurement (Due Process), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), SERVICOM, whose Golden rule is “Serve others as you would like to be served.”
Atiku emphasized most of such achievements have now been turned into mere shadows of themselves.
“We also paid off nearly all of our foreign debt which was crippling the country; we stabilized the exchange rate of the naira as well as interest rates, and reduced inflation. What needed to follow was for these macro-economic gains to be further translated into improved welfare for our people.
With the reforms in the telecommunications sector we increased the number of functioning telephone lines from 200,000 at the inception of our administration to over 70 million by the time we left. Our reforms also led to an increase in the market capitalization of the Nigerian Stock Exchange from N400 billion to over N8 trillion by 2007 and to nearly N13 trillion by 2008.
“We also handed over well-articulated master Plans for the development of multi-modal transportation system, including a contract for the modernization of the railways. We also commenced the implementation of the Gas to Power Master Plan, with a target of 26,000 megawatts of electricity expected to be delivered by 2015.
“This is the story of the service of an administration, which I am proud to have been a part of. These achievements were made possible because of the vision, commitment and dedication of leadership.”
Atiku made it clear that good leadership is what it takes to make good things happen. [myad]
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