From Fred Itua, Abuja
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo was absent at a scheduled meeting with Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki in the National Assembly, yesterday.
Obasanjo was expected to lead former African Heads of State on a courtesy visit to Saraki, but, he was not in the delegation.
In his place, former President of Botswana, Dr. Festus Mogae led other leaders to the meeting. Although there was no official explanation from the former president or the visiting team on why he was absent, Saraki’s media office told newsmen that Obasanjo was held back in Lusaka, Zambia.
“The former president suffered a flight delay. That was why he could not attend the meeting,” the media office of the Senate President explained.
Meanwhile, Dr. Mogae, who spoke on behalf of other ex-African Heads of State, warned against Nigeria’s complacency in its fight against HIV/AIDS virus.
He put the current figure of Nigerians living with the deadly virus at 3.4 per cent, which translates to 5.7 million people, out of a population of 170 million.
He said the new percentage has reduced from 4.2 percent in 2015.
“As you have been told, we are a group of former presidents including your own Obasanjo, championing HIV-free generation. We dealt with the scourge when it broke out and from our experience, we realized that we did not stabilise the situation until the top leadership were involved and by the time some of us left office, we helped stabilize the situation. We had attained some levels of successes and converted what was a killer disease into a chronic one.”
“Your interest is needed if fight against HIV/AIDS has to be ultimately won. We are convinced from our experience that your interest is important if the fight must be sustained.
In his response, Saraki, said the National Assembly will continue to give required attention to the fight against HIV/AIDS in the country.
The Senate President stated that the leadership of the National Assembly is not only concerned about the spread of HIV in Nigeria in particular and Africa in general, but will continue to assist in efforts including appropriating adequate funds to agencies in the country that are devoted to tackling the pandemic.