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By Eric Teniola
In June 2005, we were delighted to celebrate the debt relief offered to us, over $ 20 billion in relief, which was beyond Nigeria’s total income for a year.
We were so happy that President Olusegun Obasanjo had to do a broadcast to the nation on June 30, 2005. He followed the broadcast by appearing before the joint session of the National Assembly on July 26, 2005 to speak on the matter. .
On the show, he said, “How did we work to get out of this quagmire of debt? We did it by resolving and working hard to break with the past; by identifying new voices and new leaders; and dismissing cases as usual and voting for new values of accountability, transparency, fair competition, social justice and raising the standard of living of Nigerians.
“We have reorganized our institutions and put in place an economic program that reduces the role of the state in the economy while strengthening the place and role of private investors. We have launched a vigorous global campaign to justify debt relief ”. He congratulated the economic management team and assured that Nigeria will never fall into such a trap again.
“And the future? We have to learn from the past. We must all show collective responsibility to prevent a return to the past. We must all be committed to protecting, rather than wasting our children’s future. We must all agree that we do not remove the solid blocks on which our nation rests by accumulating debts that we cannot repay. May God never let us take this painful path again.
We were all so happy then. Several people congratulated the government for this action, including Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie and General Yakubu Gowon (ret). Others who congratulated the government at that time were the Speaker of the Senate, Senator Ken Nnamani, Speaker of the House of Representatives at the time, Alhaji Aminu Bello Masari, former Vice President, Dr Alex Ekwueme.
Others were Alhaji Mohammed Danjuma Goje, Abdullahi Adamu, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Alhaji Bukar Abba Ibrahim, Chief Ebere Udeagu, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, Chief Sunday Fajimi, Engr. Hamman Tukur, Ambassador Agboola Isaac Aluko-Olokun, Honorable Farouk Lawan, John Agoda, Kayode Amusan and Kelechi Nwagwu; Oba Rilwanu Akiolu, Oba Omo N’Oba Erediauwa, Reverend Dr. Wilson Badejo; Mrs. Oluremi Oyo, Alhaji Mansur Ahmed, Alhaji Lateef Owoyemi, Mr. Charles Ugwu, Dr. Sonnu Folorunso Kuku, Dr. Cecilia Ibru, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, Chief Frank Kokori, Mr. Harry Nwana, Dr. Elizabeth Solere, Brig . General (retired) Mohammed Buba Marwa, Prince Chidi Chukwuani, Mr. Kenneth Orkuma Hembe, Comrade Zik Gbemre, Mr. Cordel Okafor, Mr. Bisi Olawunmi, Dr. Uma Eleeazu, Dr. Stanley Macebuh, Prof. Nimi Briggs, Mr. Chijama Ogbu, Mr. Joseph Omowa, Mr. Adesoji Olugbenga, Mr. Moses Olurunwa, Dr. Boniface Chizea and others.
Others outside Nigeria who congratulated the central government at the time were British Prime Minister Mr. Tony Blair, Hilary Benn, United Kingdom Secretary for International Development, Mr. Idrissa Thiam, Senior Resident Representative of IMF in Nigeria, Ms Romilly Greenhill, Policy Officer, Action Aid and Mr Marc Balston, Debt Strategist, Deutsche Bank, London. For me, the comment from General Yakubu Gowon (85) was very significant.
He was in power for nine uninterrupted years and throughout his tenure, 1966 to 1975, Nigeria did not borrow a kobo. He is to be congratulated along with his finance ministers who handled Nigeria’s finances during the civil war, Chief Obafemi Awolowo (March 6, 1909 – May 9, 1987); Alhaji Usman Aliyu Shehu Shagari (February 25, 1925 – December 28, 2018); and the then Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Prince Abdul Aziz Attah, son of the late Attah of Igbirra in Kogi State. General Gowon said at the time: “Let us hope that no government will ever again commit the next generation to such a heavy burden of debt”.
Let me say a word about Prince Attah. He was educated at Okene Elementary and Middle Schools between 1926 and 1935. In 1936, he entered Achimota College, Ghana, and studied there until 1944, when he attended Belliol College, Oxford, England, where he graduated in 1947 in politics, philosophy and economics. Returning to Nigeria the following year, he entered the civil service as the Cadet Administrative Officer in Nigeria’s then unified public service.
He served in Calabar, Opobo, Ikot-Ekpene and in the former South of Cameroon, all then under the Eastern region, and after the civil service division continued to serve in that region; he was a district officer in Umuahia before obtaining the important post of private secretary from Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, prime minister of the eastern region.
Then he was secretary of the general agent for the region in Great Britain; Training officer at the regional finance ministry, Enugu; and secretary of the province of Annang.
Vanguard News Nigeria
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