Obasanjo to Nigerians: Help government to develop rural communities.

FROM ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo has come a piece of advice to Nigerians.

Obasanjo advised his fellow citizens that they should not leave the burden of developing the country to government alone.

The former President, who spoke at the 2015 edition of the Ibogun-Olaogun Day, held at his ancestral home in Ibogun Olaogun village in the Ifo Local Government in Ogun State, stressed that rural development in particular should be a collective responsibility of all Nigerians.
Obasanjo appealed to everyone in the society to join hands to improve their respective rural areas in the country, “as responsible people to our respective rural areas, we should not wait for the governments.”
He reiterated that government alone cannot meet all the infrastructural needs of the rural dwellers, adding that the physical, social and educational development of the rural dwellers largely depend on whatever contributions individuals can facilitate to their communities.
Obasanjo said: “We don’t need to wait for government before developing our communities, particularly some of us who were raised from the village.

“We should not wait for any government ticket.  Let us think of what we can do for ourselves and our communities; what can we do for ourselves to make the village communities more habitable for us.”
He told the gathering that Ibogun-Olaogun lacked basic amenities like latrine and bathroom when he was growing up in the village, but expressed joy on changes that had taken place today.

According to him, his ancestral village could now boast of a Primary Health Clinic, modern toilet, good road network and modern structure for the primary school, all done through efforts of the members of the community..
“When I was growing up in this community, there were no latrine, no bath, and a clinic,” Obasanjo said, adding: “But today, there are over a dozen of people who would have died if the clinic we constructed through the community’s self-effort had not been in existence.”
He further stressed: “Each of us can encourage village renewal; we don’t need to wait for government if we don’t want to tarry for too long.

“The need to raise fund for our community secondary school is borne out of the need that we cannot wait for government to do it for us,” the former President said.  “We have to carry our load by ourselves before we say government should come to our aide.  That is the reality today.”
The former Oyo State Deputy Governor, Taofeek Arapaja, on the occasion, charged Nigerians to yield to Obasanjo’s advice.
“If Baba Obasanjo could be championing the call for rural development, there is nothing stopping us the younger ones to take to his call and go back to our respective rural areas to bring development,” the ex-Deputy Governor charged.