THE preamble to this week’s Column is from a previous piece titled ‘In Defense of Obasanjo’. The main body is a re-jigged version of yet another, titled ‘Obj: Tribute to a fighter’. Now that Obasanjo is on the menu -again- it is auspicious, on a lighter note to serve him unexpurgated. Again.

THE Distinguished and Honourables: Some of the ideas here may be repugnant to you but with the deep spirit of altruism, which is your hallmark, it will be less difficult getting you to subdue your individual interests for the greater good of the larger society.

DURING his talk at the first Akintola Williams Annual Lecture, former President Olusegun Obasanjo x-rayed certain aspects of governance in Nigeria. He beamed his searchlight on the state of the economy, the judiciary, the legislature and the fight against corruption.

Nigerians want to be lied to. We claim to seek the truth, to desire honesty from our leaders. Yet we’re all too comfortable with lies. It is our complacency, our acceptance of socio-economic backwardness as the norm which is the true cause of today’s recession. In a country where overnight oil millionaires influence public thinking and monopoly capitalism is the only unchanging policy, recession was almost inevitable, given our refusal to invest in anything else beyond rhetoric. We never imagined there could be an end to the quick and easily obtainable oil rents our entire society survives on.

It is with the above in mind that I recommend the following:
a.Build and strengthen institutions that will outlive individual governments – Governments will come and go but strong governmental institutions will last forever. Government should therefore strengthen institutions such as the NJC to further enhance its capacity to perform its constitutional duty.