By Emmanuel Udodinma
More competent leaders will emerge in Nigeria if elections are credible, a former minister, Prof Jerry Gana, has said.
According to him, the country has credible leaders but has a problem with the selection and electoral processes.
He said: “This is the major problem with the processes of leadership emergence in Nigeria. We have to redefine, reform, refurbish and put in place new systems to ensure the electoral processes are credible to bring the best leadership.”
Gana spoke during the third National Leadership Dialogue Series of the Nigerian Prize for Leadership (NPL). Its theme was: Rethinking leadership: focus on competence, governance and impact on society.
Gana, who was the guest speaker, added: “If we fail to reform the electoral system, our democracy may become meaningless and irrelevant.
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“The effectiveness of the electoral system of a nation is central to the good health of that democracy. Hence this requires very serious attention and we hope the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) can achieve this mandate.”
Former University of Lagos Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Oye Ibidapo-Obe, called for a new generation of leaders.
He said: “We need to have fundamental restructuring in terms of what universities should have and we need to work on emerging leaders to handle this.”
Ibidapo-Obe said that while lack of education causes ignorance in leadership, leaders should engage in self-development and learn from others to develop their competences.
Executive Secretary of the NPL, Dr. Ike Neliaku, said the platform will continue to work towards producing competent leaders.
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