From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, yesterday, said the only way Nigeria would overcome its security problems is to involve all tiers of government.
Atiku, who spoke at the 26th Lagos Business School (LBS) Alumni Conference with the theme: ‘The Leadership Imperative’ in Lagos, yesterday, noted that every region of the country has its peculiar security challenges, which would require the impute of the different regions to address.
“Insecurity is a concurrent issue that requires the involvement of all tiers of government for effective management. The security challenges are peculiar to each region and as such requires an all-inclusive approach,” he said.
The LBS Alumni Conference is one of the engagement platforms hosting political office seekers to answer questions and share their vision for the country.
Atiku also noted that the various components of Nigeria were at war with themselves when the party took over the government from the military in 1999.
He noted that Nigeria was heavily indebted even as there were no records of the country’s debt portfolio.
According to him, the President Olusegun Obasanjo-led government neither had a policy document nor a plan when it took over the government in 1999.
“We didn’t have a plan. We met a country that was heavily indebted, that was in crisis between the various component parts of the country, and so on.
“When the PDP was elected in 1999, we really did not have a policy document. We didn’t have a plan. We met a country that was heavily indebted, that was in crisis between the various component parts of the country, and so on.”
He noted that the economic framework of Nigeria began to take shape during his trip to the annual International Monetary Fund (IMF)-World Bank conference in Washington, where he went to outline Nigeria’s debt problem.
Atiku stated that it was on the visit that he first met Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who was then a staff of the World Bank, and he was introduced to her.
“(I told them) we don’t know why we are owing, whom we are owing, for what, what the money was meant for, and so on. In other words, we didn’t have any records in the Ministry of Finance.
“The World Bank officials told me of a brilliant Nigerian in the bank. I said, ‘Can you please loan her to us?’ And I was introduced to our former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. I came back and told the president and we invited her to join us. From there, we realised we had to set up what we called the Debt Management Office (DMO).
“We were politicians but we didn’t even know what DMO was. So, we sat down together, we drafted the law establishing the DMO. ‘Who would be the chairman of the DMO?’ We said the vice president. Who would be the deputy chairman?”
We said the minister of finance. We got the National Assembly to approve that law,” Atiku said.
He further said the administration had to turn to the private sector operators like former Managing Director of the Guaranty Trust Bank, Fola Adeola and Akin Kekere-Ekun for advice, and added that the administration owed much of its successes to the private sector.
He said the administration also collaborated with the governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el’Rufai to set up an Economic Advisory Committee, and appointed Prof. Anya O. Anya as its chairman.