By Eric Teniola
IN June 2005 we were so ecstatic in celebrating the debt relief offered us, a relief of over $20 billion, which was beyond the total revenue of Nigeria for one year.
So happy were we that President Olusegun Obasanjo had to make a broadcast to the nation on June 30, 2005. He followed the broadcast by appearing before the joint sitting of the National Assembly on July 26, 2005 to speak on the issue.
In the broadcast, he declared: “How did we work to get out of this debt quagmire? We did it by resolving and working hard to break with the past; by identifying new voices and new leaders; and by rejecting business as usual and voting for new values of accountability, transparency, fair competition, social justice and the upliftment of the living standards of Nigerians.
“We revamped our institutions and put in place an economic agenda that reduced the role of the state in the economy while strengthening the place and role of private investors. We mounted a…
Source: Vanguard Newspaper
