PRESIDENT Olusegun Obasanjo on Monday took a swipe at the military, saying they were responsible for the nation�s economic woes. The president who is a former military head of state also blamed the military for the widespread corruption in the country and the deterioration of most public institutions.
All these, he said, were as a result of many years of military rule without any positive thing to show for it.
Speaking at the Customs Comptroller General�s Annual Conference at Otta on Monday, President Obasanjo said the introduction of the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) was aimed at tackling corruption and other woes.
President Obasanjo, whose speech was read by the Ogun State governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, said there was need for a change of attitude by all and sundry.
He said the private sector must be seen as the creator of wealth and the economy�s engine of growth, adding that this was why the government was committed to the provision of the right investment climate, infrastructure, strong banks, effective judicial system and efficient ports and customs service.
Pointing out that the international community�s view of the country had changed, President Obasanjo observed that an annual publication of the World Bank and IFC which ranked various countries based on the ease of doing business had ranked Nigeria as 94th out of a total of 155 countries, after studying 10 areas of importance to the private sector, which included access to credit, protecting investors, closing a business and enforcing contracts.
On Custom Service, the president said he was looking forward to better performance, sharper vision and dynamism, particularly at the leadership level, stressing that he expected the customs leadership to work towards emerging as one of the best 20 in the world, by 2020, and quoted a 2004 UNCTAD statistic showing that Africa generally lagged behind.
�In 2004, UNCTAD estimated that total world exports were valued at about $9 trillion. However, all of Africa – including Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, among others – accounted for only $225 billion of world exports. This was less than three per cent of total world exports. I hope you can see that we still have a long time to go.�
Meanwhile, the Comptroller General of Customs, Mr. Jacob Gyang Buba, on Monday at the Gateway Hotel, Otta, announced that the service deposited N153,866,44,273 in the Federation Account, between January and October 2006, noting that the figure was N35.5 billion or 18.75 per cent lower than the sum of N189.4 billion collected for the same account during the corresponding period of 2005.