Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has knocked Nigeria and other African countries over their overreliance on foreign aid, poor leadership, and shortfall on democratic system.

Speaking at at the 32nd Annual Meeting of Afreximbank in Abuja on Friday, Obasanjo said Africa’s so-called “giants” have failed to achieve meaningful growth weighed down by systemic inefficiencies and misguided governance.

According to him, nations like Nigeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Africa, ought to be leading the continent’s development charge given their demographic, resource, or economic strengths.

Instead, he pointed out that these countries have continued to record retarded growth.

While Egypt has made notable progress, he lamented that the others have either regressed or stagnated over the past three decades, often taking two steps forward and one step back.

Obasanjo stated that “the potential for collective African progress remains dim unless these key countries begin to show meaningful growth and leadership.”

He argued that Nigeria, in particular has immense potential but remains shackled by corruption, ignorance, and a persistent dependence on foreign assistance.

Obasanjo criticised the prevailing trend among African leaders of seeking foreign loans and aid instead of harnessing the continent’s internal wealth and capacity.

“We all rush to China to borrow $20 billion, yet one African country alone has the capacity to generate that kind of money domestically. But we won’t because we’re addicted to foreign help. That is not how we will move forward,” he said.

He blamed this failure on a fundamental lack of economic literacy among African leaders, arguing that many do not grasp the workings of the global economy and are therefore ill-equipped to position their countries competitively.

“How much of the world do our leaders even understand, If we understand it, we will get things right not just nationally, but at the community, subregional, and continental levels,” he further said.