ONE of the premises on which former President Olusegun Obasanjo built his case to lead Nigeria in 1999, was that he wanted to finish his grand design for the country which handing over of power 20 years earlier, stopped him from concluding.

When almost everyone thought he had little else to offer in 2003, he insisted on another term to consolidate the gains of his first tenure.

Part of that consolidation was his robust agricultural programme. The other side of the consolidation was a succession plan to stabilise the country.

Obasanjo failed woefully in both respects. It was more insulting when he described Nigeria’s $1 billion import bill for rice as “shameful.”

When did it become shameful to spend such an amount on rice importation? What did Obasanjo do in eight years to stop the importation of rice? Did the shame begin after he left office? What did he do for agriculture that qualifies him to lament the high food import bill?

If he has forgotten, some reminders may help him. His lack of interest in agriculture, except where his farm was concerned, commenced in his 2,842-word speech on 29 May 1999, when he promised to deal with “food supply, food security, and agriculture.”

His most remarkable contributions to agriculture as President were fertiliser importations and the N50 billion loans to farmers, which he remarked, “only our farm has benefitted from the loan.” He was referring to Obasanjo Farms.

Obasanjo speaking on Monday at his university international conference on Information Communication Technology for Africa, said, “About a week ago, I read that the country imported N155bn worth of rice which is more than investing $1bn on rice.

In a country of over 100 million people and with the kind of arable land we have, where there is nowhere we cannot plant rice, it is shameful to invest such an amount of money on rice importation.”

If he had used part of the over $3 billion spent on rice importation while he was in office on a sustainable rice programme, he would not be the one to remind Nigerians that, “If we take all our money from oil to import food, then we are impoverishing the nation, our children and children yet unborn.”

Has he forgotten the import waivers that he generously gave his friends who imported rice, limiting revenues that would have accrued to the three tiers of government from duties?

Obasanjo is alarmed about Nigeria’s increasing population. He is advising government to make agriculture attractive through incentives to farmers. How attractive did he make agriculture while in office? Has he just discovered the importance of agriculture?

The likes of Obasanjo should be regretting the quality of leadership they provided and where it has left Nigeria. With favourable receipts from oil for most of his eight years in office, a pliant National Assembly, and his unprecedented extra budgetary expenditure, he did nothing about “food supply, food security, and agriculture.”

He should be alarmed over the harm his eight years in office did to Nigeria.