Erstwhile President, Olusegun Obasanjo on Monday admitted that his generation failed Nigeria.
Obasanjo made the remark at the one-day Trade Fair seminar of Kaduna Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, KADCCIMA.
The former President said though his generation made some mistakes, they also laid the foundation for the country’s democracy.
According to Obasanjo, “Look, don’t worry unduly about the mistake the generation before you had made. When people talk to me and said ‘yes, you are wrong.’ I will accept that my generation had done a number of wrong things. But, we must have done some good things as well.
“My own generation fought for the unity of Nigeria. You cannot deny that. There are many things we must have done wrong but we fought for the unity of this country. I still have shrapnel from grenades that entered my body that our brothers shot at me during the civil war. But, at the end of it, we reconciled.
“In addition, my generation laid the foundation of democracy in the country. Our democracy is not perfect, our democracy is a journey and not a destination; we must continue to improve on it. My sons and daughters, what will your generation do?
“Condemnation is easy but what will you do? There are some people who have taken the bull by the horn and tried their best. But, all in all Nigeria is still intact. There are many countries that fought civil wars and they are not together. Obasanjo
‘’Yugoslavia, Pakistan, Sudan, we fought a civil war sadly, but we are still together. I thank for God and thank those who made that possible. Part of our problems is that our leaders have not taken the bull by the horn, ready to buy the bullet.
‘’We cannot have it easy like that for us to develop. You must be ready to take the bull by the horn. India, Malaysia, and some other countries did it. We have to do it at one time or the other.”
Earlier the former President had advised Nigerians against blaming God for the country’s current challenges.
