By Kolawole Ojebisi
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has described electing leaders bereft of clear plan of action into power is like putting the nation in auto-pilot.
Obasanjo noted those at the helms at both the national and state levels must come to grips with the problems besetting the country adding that this calls for clear thinking that can lead to formulation of workable policies.
The former president said this in an interview on News Central Television.
He berated presidents who have no understanding of problems and challenges.
Without mentioning names, the retired general said a president should not make pronouncements on issues that have not been carefully studied or dissected.
Obasanjo noted that understanding the problems will inform the kind of solutions that should be devised to tackle them stressing that this goes beyond mouthing impotent words like “Three-point plan” as if they were mantra.
“What do you say of a Nigerian president who came to office without a plan and woke up and just said, ‘Three-point plan’? What are the three points, and what are they going to achieve? Who are the people who worked on it?” he asked.
“You come and you just open your mouth and make a pronouncement on something that has not been studied.”
Obasanjo emphasised the need for good governance, adding that “good leadership should be appreciated and used to good advantage”.
“Leadership is not a thing you pick on the road, and not everybody is given it. So, when we identify leadership, we should appreciate it and use it to good advantage,” he added.
“When I talk of leadership, I’m not talking of leadership just at the political level but in all walks of life.
“Wherever we see leadership, whether it is in the private sector or the public sector, we should make use of that good leader to achieve the maximum.
“The point is, unfortunately in Africa generally and in Nigeria particularly, we take two steps forward, take one sideways, and take two or three backward.
“Leadership should be what we pay attention to.” Obasanjo said.
Obasanjo was military head of state from 1976 to 1979, he came to power after the bloody coup which claimed the live of his predecessor in office, Muritala Muhammad.
He holds the record of the first military Head of States that willingly relinquished power to a democratically elected president.
Obasnajo would later be elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as civilian president after years of military interregnum which ended in 1999.
He ruled the country from 1999-2007.
