Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has blamed Nigeria’s long-standing dependence on rice imports on the decision by the civilian administration in 1979 to lift a ban imposed by the outgoing military government, saying the policy reversal set the country back by decades.
Obasanjo made the remarks on Thursday in Abuja at the International Memorial Lecture and Leadership Conference marking the 50th anniversary of the assassination of former Head of State, Gen Murtala Muhammed (retd.).
The memorial lecture focused on Gen Muhammed’s defining ‘Africa Has Come of Age’ address delivered at the Organisation of African Unity Summit in Addis Ababa.
Recounting events at the end of military rule in 1979, Obasanjo said his government had been on the verge of achieving self-sufficiency in rice production before handing over to civilians.
‘By the time we left in July 1979, we wanted to be self-sufficient in rice production. We asked that a report be prepared on what was in the fields. The report showed that we would be self-sufficient that year’, he said.
Based on the findings, Obasanjo explained, his administration banned the importation of rice before leaving office in October 1979.
‘When the civilian administration came in, one of the first things they did was to lift the ban on rice importation so they could allocate import licences to their supporters and political associates’, he added.
Obasanjo cited what he described as a notorious case of abuse involving a politically connected importer who inflated the cost of a rice contract to extract kickbacks.
‘Let me give you an example. One of the barons who obtained a rice import licence from America ordered rice and then asked the suppliers to add $5 million to the cost.
‘They added the $5 million and supplied the rice. He then went back to New York and demanded $2.5 million out of the $5 million. They refused and gave him only $1 million.
‘He reported the matter to the Nigerian embassy and to the Nigerian representative at the UN, who contacted the suppliers. The suppliers said they did not understand what the issue was.
‘Eventually, the suppliers explained that the man had asked them to add $5 million to the cost and that, without doing so, they would have lost the contract.
‘They took the risk and secured the deal. He wanted $2.5 million but had taken no risk, so they gave him $1 million.
‘The ambassador said he felt like digging a hole and sinking into it. That was your country’, he said.
The former head of state added, ‘Since the lifting of the rice import ban in 1979, we have not recovered from it. That is why we are still importing rice today.
‘These are the kinds of things that go wrong, and then we ask whether Africa has come of age. I wonder’.
Obasanjo argued that Nigeria’s inability to sustain sound policies was a major reason both the country and the continent had struggled to ‘come of age’.
Turning to the economy, he lamented that Nigeria had lost ground over the years despite earlier progress.
‘There was a time when Nigeria ranked 37th among the economies of the world. If we had continued at that rate for 20 years, we would by now have been among the top 10. Today, I do not even know where we stand’, he said.
He urged African leaders to focus on reform and production as the pathway to growth.
‘What we need to do is reform and produce. Reform and produce’, he stressed. Obasanjo emphasised that for Africa to come of age, it must record annual GDP growth of nine to ten per cent.
‘We have done something like that before, and we can do it again. When we do, Africa will truly come of age’, he said.
Using agriculture as an example, Obasanjo said cocoa output tripled during his elected presidency but has since declined.
‘When I became elected president, cocoa production in Nigeria was 150,000 metric tonnes. We introduced a new system to boost production, and within four to five years, we were producing 450,000 metric tonnes. We tripled output.
‘President Kufuor once joked that Nigeria, as an oil-producing country, should leave cocoa to them. I told him we would produce cocoa while also producing oil.
‘Today, I understand we are producing no more than 300,000 metric tonnes. We have gone backwards. That is not how Africa will come of age’, he said.
Beyond the economy, Obasanjo reflected on leadership, governance, and the legacy of General Murtala Muhammed, whom he described as patriotic, disciplined, and committed to national service.
‘The greatest achievement of Murtala, in my view, was that he created a successor who could continue after him. The failure of all leaders after Murtala, including myself, is that we have not been able to create successors who could go on after us’, he said.
