Former President Olusegun Obasanjo believes that politics must be gotten right in Africa in order for the continent to progress at a rapid speed and meet up with countries in the western world.
He also advocated for security of not just lives, but also jobs and their wellbeing.
He spoke at the Believers’ Loveworld Convovation Arena in Lagos, during the 2018 Watch night service with Pastor Chris Oyakhilome.
Obasanjo, in his address, gave five P’s which he termed as pillars of development, progress and growth for Africa. They are politics, population, protection, prosperity and partnership.
In his words: “We must get politics right. Democracy is not only in election, it is popular participation, and satisfying the needs of the people.
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“Our protection/security should be in all ramifications. There is nowhere in Africa that security is the way it should be, and this is not good for us. We must ensure security of not only lives, but even the jobs people do.”Speaking on population management, Obasanjo noted that “Our population is growing fast. At Independence, Nigeria had 45 million people, today the nation has about 200 million people. We must manage our population, and this can be done by education. The empowerment of people is very important.”
The former president further advised Africans, and especially Nigerians to stop talking about poverty. “When you tell people that Africa is poor, they tell you that they have heard enough of that. But Africa is not poor, we made ourselves poor. We must stop talking about poverty.”
The President of the Believers Loveworld (popularly called Christ Embassy), Pastor Chris Oyakhilome declared the year 2019 as the year of light, as he further admonished his congregation to overcome evil with good in the course of the year.