The Director-General, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mr Garba Abari, has identified the failures of past leaders as the causes of Nigeria’s present economic woes.

Former Heads of State — Chief Ernest Sonekan, General Ibrahim Babangida, General Muhammadu Buhari, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, General Yakubu Gowon, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, Speaker, House of Representatives, and Senate President, David Mark during the National Council of State meeting held at the State House, Abuja, yesterday. Inset: From left: President Goodluck Jonathan, Shagari and Babangida, discussing after the meeting. Photos: Abayomi Adeshida/State House.

Abari stated this when he featured at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja.

According to the D-G, successive leaders have failed to deliver on their mandates, and as such, have put the nation in a dire situation.

He said: “We as a country are not happy that our nation has been left far behind by our peers.

“We started with countries like South Korea, like Malaysia, like Indonesia, like Brazil.

“These countries are far ahead of us, simply because we have had a leadership that has not been able to inspire, a leadership that has been self serving.

“And a followership that is not any less inspiring and not any less patriotic, simply because they learned from what the leadership is doing.

“It is as a result of this, we have so many consequential fall-out of our conduct as a people and as a nation, so that dishonesty has now become a way of life.’’

Abari said it was unfortunate that mistrust had developed between the citizens and the government.

According to him, the situation is currently causing young people to engage in unpatriotic acts capable of jeopardising efforts at developing the country.

He added that the situation had become so complex that every aspect of national life required re-orientation and attitudinal change towards ensuring honesty, integrity and hard work.

The D-G, therefore, said it was time for Nigerian leaders and other stakeholders had a sober reflection towards making the country better.

“The leadership at whatever level, whether political, religious or leadership at the level of the home, everyone needs to have a critical assessment – criticism and counter-criticism – with a view to adjusting properly to see whether there is value addition to societal oneness in what we as individuals, as groups and as institutions are doing.

“A country such as Nigeria has to actually sit down and have a real critical look, in fact a second hard look at itself,” Abari said.

He said although every nation had its fault lines, a responsible and people-oriented leadership was crucial to nation-building.