I made Nigeria better than I found it – Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has asserted that his administration was among the best the country has ever had.

Speaking in Abeokuta on June 18 at the Safe Online Youth Fellowship Bootcamp, organized by NerdzFactory Company and supported by Meta at the Youth Development Centre, Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), Obasanjo reflected on the significant achievements of his tenure from 1999 to 2007.

He highlighted his role in freeing Nigeria from substantial debt and expressed pride in the celebration of 25 years of uninterrupted democracy, which began during his time as a democratic leader in 1999.

He said: “When I came in as elected President, I wanted to get debt relief because we were spending $3.5 billion every year servicing debt and the quantum of the debt was not going down. Today, I can say that I made Nigeria better than I found it from an economic perspective. 

“I found $3.7 billion in the reserves and we were spending $3.5 billion to service our debt. By the time I left, we had a debt of about $36 billion with the debt relief, and I left with a debt of $3.6 billion. Also, I left a reserve of over $50 billion. I also achieved excess crude for the country worth over $25 billion.”