Nigeria TV Info — Obasanjo: Leaders Owe Youths Truthful, Selfless, and Transformational Leadership

Abeokuta, Ogun State — Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said that adults and societal leaders owe it as a duty to the younger generation to provide leadership rooted in truth, transparency, transformation, and selflessness.

Obasanjo made the remarks on Saturday in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, during the grand reunion and maiden lecture series of the Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS), United Kingdom Alumni Association, Nigerian chapter.

Represented by Prof. Samuel Daramola, Deputy Director of the Olusegun Obasanjo Leadership Institute, the former president emphasized that the youth represent a critical phase between childhood and adulthood, characterized by vitality, idealism, hope, and dreams — qualities he said must be nurtured through good leadership.

He observed that today’s leaders, who once experienced the same youthful energy and idealism, must recognize the current generation’s struggles in a rapidly changing and fractured world.

> “Some of us were youths immediately after the Second World War; I was. Most of you were youths at the height of the Cold War,” Obasanjo recalled.

He noted that although the world of his youth was not perfect, it was marked by a sense of order, respect for international law, and predictability in global affairs.

> “There were threats, but no impunity,” he said. “They talked of the balance of terror in those days with reasonable stability, predictability, peace, and common security with shared responsibility and prosperity among the leading nations of the world.”

Obasanjo urged current leaders to rebuild trust and responsibility in governance, stressing that the future of the nation depends on how well today’s youth are guided and inspired.

— Nigeria TV Info