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Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki said he had long ago foreseen the current hardship Nigerians are going through today and warned against it accordingly, but nobody listened.
He made this known while speaking to journalists in Benin, the Edo capital, on Thursday, October 19, 2023.
The governor said, as an investment banker, he studied the country’s economic trajectory under successive leaders and knew the nation was heading for a tough time.
Obaseki also identified poor leadership decisions by the powers that be as the major cause of the current socio-economic challenges bedevilling the country.
"As an investment banker, I foresaw the hardship faced today due to the bad economic decisions by leaders of the country. I several raised the alarm on the need for corrective measures but was ignored,” the governor stated.
He added that, as a governor, he understood that Nigerians were passing through difficult times but urged them to remain resilient and not lose hope.
“I know as a Governor that we are all going through suffering in the land. I understand how the economy works and saw this ahead of time. I have been shouting since I became Governor that the way we are going and the kind of decision many of us politicians were making will bring about hardship.”
“Nigeria was never like this before. God in his mercy endowed Nigeria like no other country in the World. How many countries in Africa have 100 million people not to talk about 200 million? God designed us as the biggest market in Africa. God gave us all and the problem we are facing as a nation is the one created by us, particularly our leaders.
“Leadership is not how much you can get for yourself. Nigerians are suffering today due to bad leadership. Nigeria is rich in terms of resources and has no business with poverty and suffering. We can grow and produce all we need to consume in Nigeria, so why are we not doing it?” Obaseki queried.