Former President of the State Chief Olusegun Obasanjo advised the present administration to seek help from the Zambia government for a solution to the hyperinflation in the country.
In a statement on Monday, while addressing a youth leadership symposium as part of activities lined up for his 87th birthday, the former head of state restrained the necessity for the action.
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.
Nigeria’s inflation rate has hit 29.9 percent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
The current situation has seen multiple hikes in the price of foodstuff transportation, cost of production, and cost of living also increases in the price of PMS.
Addressing youth at 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.
Which was organized by the Centre for Human Security and Dialogue in collaboration with the Institute for African Culture and International Understanding, Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library.
The retreat is that at a period of challenges, one should not give up but face the problem head-on and draw lessons from those who encounter similar problems in the past and overcome them.
He said, “When the time is rough and tough, the tough must get going 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 is different? Even if whatever we shall be doing will be different we can ask questions to navigate our way out.”
Obasanjo also advises on different conflicts on the African continent and should embrace dialogue in settling it other than the use of guns.
However conscious efforts to build and teach a culture of peace and security in the youth must be strengthened to stimulate them to be at the forefront of promoting peace rather than being used to perpetrate violence on the continent.
Furthermore, there is a need to train and 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.
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.
In the words of the coordinator of the program and former Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Prof Peter Okebukola, the importance of the meeting was to further drive home Obasanjo’s commitment to the African youths.
Likewise, as a Director of the Institute for African Culture and International Understanding, Okebukola believes the event is believed to grant African youth a seat at the table of affairs and their involvement must be vital in serving their nation.
