Jonathan, Kufuor set for Obasanjo’s reception

President Goodluck Jonathan, ex-Ghanaian President John Kufuor and some governors are scheduled to attend a civic reception in honour of former President Olusegun Obasanjo following his voluntary retirement from office as Chairman, Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party.

The two-day event billed for the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta, from January 18 to 19, is expected to be chaired by former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, and Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido.

Chairman, Planning Committee of the event, Adeyemi Adefulu, at a press conference on Monday in Ibadan, said Obasanjo was being celebrated because he was an outstanding statesman and an icon.

Adefulu added, “Former President Olusegun Obasanjo is being  celebrated for his exploits on the political landscape of Nigeria in the past 50years.

“In the 60s, he was a young officer fighting in the Congo on a United Nation’s Mission to restore order to Zaire.

“It is to his glory that he kept faith with the people and in 1979 handed over to Alhaji Shehu Shagari as elected President of Nigeria.

“Having dominated the Nigerian public life in a way no other person has for the past 50 years, the symbolism of another retirement is not lost on us. Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has effectively become the father of the nation, a political oracle and a living legend whose life is worth celebrating.”

Meanwhile, the President Olusegun Obasanjo  Presidential Library Centre for Human Security and the Institute for Africa Culture and International Understanding on Monday said about N3.675bn would be spent on Delta and Ogun states as well as on other African countries to check unemployment  and ensure food security.

The OOPL-CHS and IACIU also said an undisclosed sum would be spent on 12 different projects in the next 10 years

CHS Director, Prof. Peter Okebukola, who spoke at a news conference in Abeokuta, added that one of the pilot projects being implemented would create employment for about two million youths in Ogun alone.

Okebukola said the Feed the Delta Project under the pilot programme of the centre’s Feed Africa Project was aimed at supporting African governments in implementation of policies and programmes that would guarantee food security.