Obasanjo charges FG to provide enabling environment for private sector

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has urged government at all levels to provide a conducive atmosphere for the private sector in the country to contribute to the nation’s economic development.

He described the private sector as the engine room for economic development, saying that no meaningful development could take place without the input of the private sector.

Obasanjo gave the charge in Oleh, the headquarters of Isoko South Council Area of Delta State, during the inauguration of newly built hotel and resort, Dantinajo Gold Resort, near the campus of the Delta State University.

The former President, who expressed delight after undertaking a tour of facilities in the hotel, hailed the owner and Chief Executive Officer of Dantinajo Gold Resort, Mr Daniel Omoyibo, for establishing the facility in the university community.

Obasanjo, accompanied by the Deputy Governor of Delta State, Mr Kingsley Otuaro, and top politicians from the state, noted that for the country to achieve greatness, the private sector must be mobilised for national development.

He said, “Coming here, when you talk of mobilising human and material resources for development, this is a practical example of what we talked about in the church. In the church, we talked about it in theory and spiritually, now we have come here and we are seeing it in practical terms.

“The point is this; the private sector must be seen as the engine of development. In my address in the church, I made the point that the job of the public sector is to provide the conducive atmosphere for the private sector to thrive.

“And of course, to regulate, knowing human beings as they are, if they are left unregulated, they will make worst than they met it. I want to congratulate my brother again for this. It’s a job well done.”

In his remark at the event, Omoyibo said his vision for establishing the hotels was to reduce unemployment so as to reduce the over-reliance on government  to provide jobs for the teeming youths in the country, particularly in the Niger Delta.