Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has advised that Nigeria should approach the government of Zimbabwe for a solution to the current all-time high inflation in the country.
He noted that since Zimbabwe was recently confronted with the same problem and came out of it, the southern African country would have useful advice for Nigeria.
In its latest release, the National Bureau of Statistics put Nigeria’s inflation at 29.9 per-cent.
The country is currently grappling with high cost of living, with pockets of protests breaking out across the country as Nigerians contend with increasing prices of foodstuffs.
Obasanjo, while speaking on Monday at a youth leadership symposium as part of activities lined up for his 87th birthday, said Nigeria had Zimbabwe to learn from.
The symposium with the theme “Opportunities for Peace: Roles of the Youths in Conflict Prevention in Africa” held at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta.
It was put together by the Centre for Human Security and Dialogue in collaboration with the Institute for African Culture and International Understanding, Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library.
The ex-President said the times of challenges were not to give up but to face the problem head-on and draw lessons from those who encountered similar problems in the past and overcame.
He said, “When the time is rough and tough, the tough must get going..no problem is new and no problem will be permanent. Committing suicide is not the end of any problem, confront it and take it to God because he could do anything. When you have a problem look at those who have had this problem before and how they overcame it
“We have this problem of galloping inflation in the country now but do we have a country with such problems recently? Yes we do, Zimbabwe had this problem recently. Shouldn’t we ask them how they did it even if our approach will be different? Even if whatever we shall be doing will be different but we can ask questions to navigate our way out.”
Obasanjo also posited that dialogue, not guns or any form of violence, would help resolve the various conflicts on the African continent.
He said that like never before, conscious efforts to build and inculcate a culture of peace and security in the youth must be intensified to spur them to be at the vanguard of promoting peace rather than being used to perpetrate violence on the continent.
He said, “We must begin to bring up our youths in the culture of peace and security. The chances are where we have a culture of love, we will have peace. The first thing to do is to inculcate in the youths the ingredients of peace which is love and fellowship.
“Look at the attributes that God gave us to have a life of stability, life of peace, they are as I mentioned, kindness, mercy and forgiveness. All of these attributes are professed by God and He shared same with us to make life pleasant for us. But when we build negative attitudes, pull him down, then there will be a problem.”
He referenced biblical characters Esther, “who was able to secure her race from being exterminated,” and Joseph, “who helped to fight famine.”
“The youth must be at the vanguard of pursuing peace. They must be able to persuade those who believe that gun and violence is the way out of conflicts to have a rethink. The way out is conversation and dialogue.
“We have had our issues here during the civil war. We killed ourselves mercilessly and destroyed our best facilities but we still came back to the roundtable to get the challenge resolved.
“Youths must develop the culture of peace, the culture of humaneness, the culture of living the way God wants us to live,” Obasanjo added.
The coordinator of the programme and former Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Prof. Peter Okebukola, said the essence of the symposium was to further drive home Obasanjo’s commitment to the African youths.
Okebukola, who is the Director of the Institute for African Culture and International Understanding, Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, said, “This event is a testament to the belief that it is not enough to grant young people a seat at the table; their involvement must be vital and meaningful.
“Through targeted interventions, inclusive policies, and international collaboration, we aim to empower West African youths as catalysts for positive change, paving the way for a more peaceful and harmonious society.”