Attahiru Jega: Nigeria plagued by leaders greedy for power, money

Professor Attahiru Jega: Nigeria lacks visionary leadership

Professor Attahiru Jega: Nigeria lacks visionary leadership

Professor Attahiru Jega: Nigeria lacks visionary leadership
Professor Attahiru Jega: Nigeria lacks visionary leadership

By Abankula

Attahiru Jega, professor of political science at Bayero University said Nigeria’s development has been truncated because it has the misfortune of having leaders who are greedy for power and money.

Jega, who was chairman of INEC between 2010 and 2015, said this in Lagos at the weekend during the first memorial workshop in honour of the first Civilian Governor of Lagos, Alhaji Lateef Jakande.

The workshop, which featured Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra and Pastor Poju Oyemade, as co-chairmen, was organised by Federal Social Democrats, (FSD).

It has the theme, “Selfless Leadership and Good Governance: Jakande as an exemplar.”

Jega as the keynote speaker, delivered his contribution via Zoom.

He said the the lack of visionary leaders has deferred the development of Nigeria.

He noted that Nigeria’s present crop of leaders are not selfless in offering services to the country and also lack vision in leading their people.

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“We must first and foremost acknowledge that Nigeria has been afflicted by the misfortune of having characters in governance who are neither selfless nor visionary, who are rather greedy whether for power or money who are essentially clueless about matters of governance and reckless in the way they handle governmental affairs and consolidators of bad democratic governance.

“One of the major challenges of good democratic governance in Nigeria is that of having selfless, patriotic, inclusive and effective leadership in order to drive Nigeria national affairs and the development of the political economy towards the goal of democratic governance. Getting things right would require selfless and visionary leadership.”

The late Jakande was undoubtedly a selfless leader, Jega said.

“He was a leader with great foresight, he was impactful. One can say he touched lives and indeed one can say he was focused in implementing policies, his legacies and his memory lives forever,” he said.

Interim Chairman of FSD, Mr Olutola Mobolurin, said, “Alhaji Jakande was well known for integrity, it was as much a personal attribute as it was a prized attribute of the political party to which he belonged.

“During his electioneering campaign for the governorship of Lagos State, he promised as his party manifesto free education at both the primary and secondary school levels, books inclusive.

“From his first day in office, he fulfilled his promises, his real world was a world of integrity,” Mobolurin said.

*The lecture report was by Sahara Reporters

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