The Nation Newspaper

Tag: attitudinal change

  • NOA director calls for attitudinal change

    The National Orientation Agency (NOA) has called for attitudinal change in all spheres of life so that the nation could witness rapid development.

    Its Oyo State Director, Mrs Dolapo Dosunmu, made the call on Tuesday in Ibadan at  the agency’s 2019 National Prayer and Ramadan lecture with the theme ”Attitudinal Change as a Catalyst for National Development.’’

    She urged Nigerians to shun attitudes that were inimical to the development of the nation.

    She said: “Nigerians should strive to rectify their wrong doings in order to build a value-stable society. Also Nigeria requires divine intervention to tide over its various challenges, particularly the rising spate of insecurity, economic downturn and the prevalent value-debasement.

    ”These have combined to frustrate our collective dreams of building a progressive nation where peace and justice reign.

    ”Our country is blessed with vast arable land and human resources in diversified areas but without the fear of God and walking in His glorious path, every effort channelled toward nation building will end in futility.

    ”To surmount our setbacks and move forward as a nation, we first have to seek God’s direction and humbly crave His guidance, that is the essence of this national prayer,” she stated.

    The guest lecturer, Alhaji Mohammed Alaka, identified supremacy of religion as the major attitude impeding the nation’s development.

    According to Alaka, both Christians and Muslims are claiming supremacy of their respective religions.

    ”Our criteria for choosing a ruler must never be based on religion, we need to change our attitude to achieve sustainable development,” he said.

    He further urged government to allow justice and equality to reign, saying any society that lacked the two would not be free of criminal activities.

  • Nigerians must have attitudinal change, says Lagos cleric

    For peace to reign in the land, Nigerians must change their ways, the General Overseer of Lagos-based The Saints’ Gospel Church of Christ Pastor Jacob Shodeinde has said.

    Speaking during the first Passover celebration of the year organised by the church, also known as Hand of Fire at its Igando, Lagos headquarters, the cleric maintained Nigerians must positively change their attitude for God’s plan for the nation to manifest.

    The church celebrates the Passover thrice in a year.

    Shodeinde said: “Nigerians should move closer to God; Enough of the anxiety to get rich quick because everything works according to time.

    “We need to focus on serving God right so that we can make heaven and there may be peace in the country. Even the ruling class should forgo their self-importance and seek God faithfully.

    “Many people are mere spectators, church-goers who don’t serve God in truth. But all these should stop.

    “Remember the Bible says many are called but few are chosen; that is why things are getting worse. People should change their thoughts and mind and things would get better.”

    Explaining the importance of the Feast of Passover, the cleric described it as ordained by God for healing, signs and wonders.

    He said: “Our father of old, Moses, led the Israelites to celebrate the Passover to mark their freedom from 430 years of slavery in Egypt.

    “God gave us the vision to continue to mark this Passover and there have been testimonies attached to this celebration.

    “It is a mysterious programme ordained by God to deliver people from their mountainous problems.

    “In Nehemiah chapter 8, the people gathered on the street to mark the Passover.

    “That is what we are also doing today, bowing to worship the Lord who does wonders, except that we don’t offer sacrifices because Jesus was offered as a sacrifice for us. It is a biblical mystery which we have been holding since 1996.”

    The cleric emphasised the significance of the resurrection of Jesus to the feast, saying the resurrection gives man hope that life will be better, especially at this time.

    This, he added, was the purpose of the feast – to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus who shed his blood so man could triumph over evil.

    “That is why we gather annually to celebrate the blood through the Passover feast.

    “The purpose is to deliver the people from their mountainous problems and to gather the candidates of heaven in mount Zion.

    “That is why testimonies can never cease here because mount Zion is the house of the Lord,” he added.

  • ‘We need attitudinal change to fight corruption’

    Majority Leader, Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon S. O. B. Agunbiade has said Nigerians need an attitudinal change in order to tackle corruption in the country.

    The lawmaker stated this at the sixth edition of the active citizen discourse of the Lagos City Junior Chambers International which held in Ikeja, Lagos recently.

    Worried by the level of corruption in Nigeria, the Federal Government had initiated a whistle-blowing policy as a means of recovering stolen government loot. And to gauge the success of the policy informed the topic of the active citizen discourse of which had the topic: ‘Fighting corruption with whistle-blowing; real or a charade?’

    But the politician who agreed that the ‘whistle-blowing policy’ is real however, was of the opinion that citizens needed to change their attitudes.

    “We do not need to rely much on whistle-blowing to chase out corruption,” he said.

    “What we need most and foremost is for us tochange attitudes. We need attitudinal change.”

    According to Agunbiade, it was disappointing that citizens only started squealing on corrupt persons because of the monetary inducement,

    “Why is the federal government realising so much money already stashed away only when announcement of rewards is attached to it?” He asked.

    “So I want to see whistle-blowing as being helped principally by the greed nature of man. People have been stealing money over the years. People don’t just get bothered about it. You will ask yourself, ‘why are these Nigerians now blowing the whistle?”

    Towing the line of Agunbiade, the Manager, Intelligence, Special Fraud Unit of the Nigeria Police, CSP Nwonyi Polycarp Emeka, also iterated the need for a change in attitude.

    He said: “Traditionally, we celebrate thieves just because they have the money. Even among our civil societies, they’ve been bought over. How do we wake up our civil societies?”

    Nwonyi reiterated that ills in the society could have been eliminated or reduced “if the systems were not bad” and threw the gauntlet back to the citizens in the audience as he asked; “What are you doing in fighting corruption?”

    The policeman added: “Whistle-blowing is a good instrument to move ahead in the war against corruption.”

    According the President, JCI Lagos City,LaoluOwolabi, the event is an active citizen discourse aimed at involving citizens in governance.

    “Every society is run by a parliament of people who sit down and make laws but not every one of us can be in the parliament.

    “But as citizens, we can discuss what affects us. This year, we felt that corruption is in the front-burner,” Owolabi said.

    The active citizen discourse is a regular intervention by JCI Lagos City to invite relevant stakeholders to discuss on topical issues.

     

  • Conference discusses attitudinal change

    Attitudinal Change for Sustainable National Development: The Role of Applied Arts and Sciences”, was the focus of the 11th Annual National Conference of the School of Applied Arts and Sciences, Federal Polytechnic, Bida, Niger State held recently.

    In a communiqué signed by the Chairman, Local Organising Committee, Dr. M.A. Asiru, and the Dean of the School, Mr. Augustine Oghenejivwe, participants urged that Nigerians should embrace attitudinal change as a potent tool for sustainable development.

    They observed that Nigeria was plagued by endemic corruption at all levels of governance – with both leaders and followers exhibiting high level of indiscipline, discrimination and favouritism.

    They condemned the culture of impunity that has made public office holders believe they are above the law; the “get rich quick syndrome”; and the injustice in the judiciary that gave soft-landing to the rich and meted harsh punishment on the poor.

    Nevertheless, the Conference acknowledged the efforts by President Muhammadu Buhari to evolve strategic policies and programmes designed to stimulate desired attitudinal changes that will eventually translate into sustainable national development and urged Nigerians to support them.

    Prof. Solomon Ogbu of the Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Abuja, was the lead paper presenter.

    Scholars, researchers and technocrats drawn from all works of life presented various research and technical papers numbered 101 at the conference.