Nigeria’s former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has said that Nigerians, both leaders and followers should blame themselves for the woes confronting it.
He said this on Tuesday in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, in his year 2021 message to the nation, saying no Nigerian must blame God for the hunger, poverty, bad economy among other challenges plaguing the country.
Obasanjo insisted that Nigeria ought not to be poor with numerous abundant resources the country is endowed with.
He, however, admonished Nigerians not to be weary, urging them to remain steadfast in prayers and hard work.
The former president said, “I like the motto of a school which says ‘work and pray.’ Some people say it should be ‘pray and work’, but it doesn’t matter to me in what order I put it, but prayer must go with work and work must go with prayer.
“And I believe we need to work hard in this country as we pray hard so that the coming year, the year 2021 will be a glorious year for us. But it will not happen unless we work to make it happen.
“We do not have to blame God for our situation, we have to blame ourselves. Nigeria does not have to be poor, no Nigerian must go to bed hungry. That we have a situation like that is a choice by our leaders and followers alike. My prayer is that God will make the year 2021 a better year for all of us, but it will not happen without work.”
Obasanjo described the outgoing year as most challenging as a result of the coronavirus pandemic which ravaged the entire world, insecurity and bad economy in the country.