He said if there was any world leader who supported Nigeria throughout his 8- year tenure as Nigeria’s president, it was Blair whom he said was in the vanguard of Nigeria’s debt cancellation.
“If I got support from outside Nigeria in my eight years as President of Nigeria, Prime Minister Blair was in the vanguard of that support. When I was going round the world trying to see whether we could get debt relief, I got good words from almost all the leaders but we needed somebody to champion our cause particularly among the G7. Unless that was done, we would never have been able to have debt relief. At that critical point, Prime Minister Tony Blair took up the challenge and actually led the G7 and the international community to give the debt relief that we had.”
Obasanjo disclosed this at the opening ceremony of Nigerian Inter-Faith Action Association (NIFAA) training of faith leaders on the fight against Malaria in Kuje Area Council, Abuja.
He said with the cancellation of the debt, money that would have been used to service the debt would now be set aside to pursue the MDGs and infant/maternal mortality in line with the goals of NIFAA.
NIFAA is an interfaith based organisation founded by Blair and co-chaired by the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar 111 and Roman Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, John Onaiyekan.
Speaking earlier, Blair said the programme was the largest Muslim and Christian alliance in Africa and it was intended to promote respect among religions and also show the relevance of faith to the challenges of the 21st century.
He said the focus of the training was on the causes and prevention of malaria and the role of faith leaders in working with their congregations to deliver key malaria prevention tips.
He also called for more funding from the government to service key health areas in the country.
