Nsukka:
– Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has been described as the worst
leader ever produced in the country since the advent of democracy in
1999.
The former governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzo Kalu made
this known at a lecture on youths empowerment and good governance at the
University of Nigeria Nsukka, UNN, Tuesday, adding that there was no
transparency in government through out the eight years of Obasanjo’s
regime.
Kalu noted that his problem with Obasanjo started in 1999
when he single handedly financed the People Democratic Party, PDP,
lending the party N500 million which he borrowed from the defunct
Hallmark bank, but which the former president asked the then PDP
National Chairman, Chief Barnabas Gamade not repay.
Orji Uzor Kalu
”As
if that was not enough, the former president closed Slok Airlines
(owned by me) as it landed at the Akanu Ibiam International (then Enugu)
Airport without explanation; shut down Hallmark bank. It was then that I
know the problem had begun,” he said.
He further said that
re-payment of the N500 million loan formed the major reason for his
disagreement with Obasanjo till date, pointing out that he was arrested
by Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC, immediately he stepped
out of office and charged with money laundering before both the United
kingdom and America came to his rescue.
Kalu pointed out that
despite all the setbacks faced by the Slok Group of Companies, it had no
fewer than 13,000 in it’s pay roll and planned to employ up to 25,000
Nigerians within the next two years.
According to Kalu, youths
unemployment was the biggest social problem in Nigeria today as only
about 50 percent of the people were gainfully employed.
He noted
that it was only in Nigeria that thousands of graduates remain
unemployed years after graduation, saying that institutions get licensed
without commensurate provision for employment of youths. Earlier in his
opening remarks, the Vice Chancellor of the UNN, Prof. Bartho Okolo
said that the country had 23.9 per cent unemployment rate, implying that
every 30 people out of 100 were unemployed.
Okolo was represented on the occasion by the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic), Prof Polycarp Chigbu
Okolo, said that the situation was worse for the youths because
unemployment which stood at 50 percent in 2013 indicated bleak future
for the ever increasing graduates of tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/03/bone-contention-obasanjo-n500m-orji-uzor-kalu/#sthash.WfXBgVWq.dpuf
