Former President Olusegun Obasanjo said, yesterday, he made
97 foreign trips during his tenure as president between 1999 and 2007.
He said
the trips were largely aimed at repairing the country’s poor image, following
years of brutal military regimes. Obasanjo was widely condemned for spending
huge resources on frequent foreign trips but he said in a speech at Oxford
University, Monday, that the trips brought significant economic benefits to the
country. Obasanjo He said: “I was elected as President of Nigeria in February
of 1999 and was inaugurated as president in May 1999, when Nigeria was a pariah
nation. “Every where people had poor opinion about us. We were scorned at and
viewed as a liability in the comity of nations. The situation demanded that I
worked to stave off that perception. As a country under political
transformation, I applied myself scrupulously to the task at hand. “For the
eight years that I served, I reached out to world leaders and continue to do so
beyond my presidency. That was termed shuttle diplomacy in governance. “I traveled extensively, canvassing global understanding and our mainstreaming
into the New World Order – not only for Nigeria, but for the whole of Africa.
By the time I finished my two-terms, I had traveled to 97 countries.’’
Nigerian economy witnessed growth under Obasanjo, compared to his successors.
Nigeria’s gross domestic product, which measures the goods produced and
services rendered in a country, was estimated at $36 billion when Mr. Obasanjo assumed
office in 1999. By 2007 when Obasanjo wrapped up his two terms, the GDP stood
at $166.4 billion, according to the World Bank. Obasanjo was credited with
implementing free market measures that opened up new sectors which contributed
immensely to the country’s overall economic progress during his tenure.
However, analysts say the economic performance was not a result of the former
president’s globetrotting. “It is wrong for the former president to say that
the progress was because he embarked on many foreign trips,” said economist
Odilim Enwagbara. Enwagbara said Nigeria’s emergence from the shackles of
military dictatorships naturally triggered the curiosity of investors.
“Investors are very diligent people,” Mr. Enwagbara said. “They travel to see things
for themselves and carefully scrutinize places they intend to invest. “Obasanjo
did not bring investors to Nigeria by making speeches at conferences in foreign
countries,” he added. Moreover, Enwagbara said in places where Mr. Obasanjo
brought economic development, he allowed his alleged corrupt instincts to
negate everything.
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