Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, on Thursday, called on Nigerians to brace up for an impending economic crisis, which he said, was bound to affect every part of the world.

The former president said this when the Ogun State Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel paid him a New Year visit in company of his cabinet members as well as some members of the National Assembly and the state House of Assembly.

Obasanjo pointed out that the world was going through economic recession that was unprecedented since the end of the Second World War.

He said, “It does not matter which part of the world we are, it does not matter what we produce or the level of our development, this recession will touch everyone of us.”

Obasanjo noted that the global economic meltdown would discourage direct foreign investments and the utilisation of local resources.

He said “If we budget $49 per barrel for crude oil in the year 2009 and the price of crude oil in the international market is now below $40 per barrel, we don‘t need an oracle to tell us that we need to tighten our belt.

“That is the outlook for the world economically and it is not too bright because whatever affects the rest of the world will affect Africa and Nigeria.”

He said Nigerians must be proactive and innovative to enhance revenue from other sources, saying that the gloomy global outlook ‘may not allow us to grow as we have grown in the past.’

The former President lamented the dwindling investment in agriculture, pointing out that food crisis was in the horizon if there was no change globally.

Meanwhile, the first daughter of the former President, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, was absent when Daniel paid another anniversary visit to Obasanjo to douse tension of a friction between the duo.

Obasanjo-Bello had previously played the role of a hostess whenever her father received political figures in his palatial hilltop mansion in Abeokuta.

The senator was the hostess in May, 2008 during the wedding ceremony of her younger brother, Major Adeboye Obasanjo.

She was also in charge during the nation‘s independence anniversary on October 1, 2008 when she denied Daniel‘s security details entry into her father‘s apartment.

Obasanjo-Bello was to engage the governor‘s security details in an altercation in Ogbomoso in November, 2008 during the wedding ceremony of the daughter of the Oyo State Governor, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala.

Our correspondent learnt from a close source of the Senator that she was away in Lagos, where a birthday party for her daughter was holding.