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Tag: Prof. Kingsley Moghalu

  • Moghalu commiserates with victims of electoral violence

    The Presidential Candidate of the Young Progressive Party (YPP), Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, has expressed sadness over the loss of lives from violence during the Feb. 23, Presidential and National Assembly Election.

    Moghalu, who symphatised with the families of all who lost their lives as a result of the violence, tasked President Muhammadu Buhari on inclusive governance.

    “I am very saddened by the loss of lives to various acts of violence during the Feb. 23, presidential election and elections into the National Assembly.

    “My heartfelt condolences go to the families that lost loved ones and I pray that those injured will recover soonest,” Moghalu said in a statement on Friday.

    The candidate also decried the alleged operational failures of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the conduct of the elections, the massive vote buying and vote rigging through various methods and the violence that characterised the polls across the country.

    According to him, these have brought the credibility of the election to question.

    He alleged that the supporters of both the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were complicit in the malpractices.

    Moghalu said: “The number of votes tallied for my candidacy by the INEC did not represent anything close to the electoral strength of that candidacy.

    “These false numbers were the result of brazen theft of our votes and the suppression of our voters.

    “It appears, however, that the strong determination of many of our citizens to reject the APC at the ballot box far outweighed the desire for real change in our polity and governance in 2019.

    “Though we did not win this election in terms of overall numbers of votes, the presidential election result is an indication of where our society is at present; 2019 is the last gasp of the old political order that has robbed Nigeria of real development.

    “I trust and believe that this situation will change by 2023.”

    According to him, as Nigeria moves forward as a country, fundamental reform of its electoral system is needed if its democracy is to have any real meaning.

    “Elections as they are organised and executed today in Nigeria are a travesty.

    “We need to reform the systems of registration, voting and collation of votes by making the processes more transparent through better use of technology.

    “As of today, these processes are tedious, inefficient and prone to risks and performance failures such as those we have experienced.

    “We also must stiffen punishment and enforce accountability for electoral offences. Nigerians in Diaspora have continued to remit billions of dollars home every year for this.

    “Our fellow citizens living abroad must be able to vote from overseas as from 2023. Immediate action to achieve this goal is required once the present elections are over.”

    He said that President Muhammadu Buhari, who INEC announced as the winner of the 2019 presidential election, owed Nigerians an inclusive, competent government that could heal the land and take millions of Nigerians out of crushing poverty.

    According to him, this calls for a very different approach to create jobs and improve actual economic productivity and living standards.

    “A new, philosophically and conceptually grounded approach to economic management that goes beyond mere economic growth statistics to real economic development and structural transformation remains an urgent priority for our country.

    “Our struggle for a better and well governed society, a productive and inclusive economy that breaks the backbone of poverty, and to restore Nigeria’s leadership role in the world continues.

    “I on my part will remain engaged in that struggle over the long haul,’’ Moghalu added. (NAN)

  • I will defeat APC, PDP- Moghalu

    Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, the presidential candidate of the Young Progressives Party (YPP) says he would defeat the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Feb. 16 presidential poll.

    Moghalu, at a town hall meeting tagged ‘The Candidates’ organised by the MacArthur Foundation in collaboration with NTA and DARIA media in Abuja, expressed confidence that he would emerge president.

    He said that Nigerians were “tired of recycled politicians’’ and that the Peoples Democraric Party (PDP) was not an option.

    “We will defeat President Muhammadu Buhari and the reason is very simple, Nigerians are tired of recycled politicians and the PDP is not an option.

    “Going for the PDP from the APC is like jumping from frying pan to fire,’’ he added.

    Moghalu said when elected, his administration would tackle root cause of corruption which is the broken value system in the country.

    According to him, no matter what we do, as long as we do not have a philosophical foundation, we cannot make progress.

    The candidate said that when elected, he would introduce the teaching of ethics in schools and ensure transparency in the budgetary system and the process of awarding of contracts.
    Moghalu, a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said that he would ensure forensic checks in the process to enhance transparency.

    On corruption, Moghalu said that if anybody commits a crime, the law must take its cause irrespective of creed or political party.

    According to him, our approach will not focus on the past but create a system to make corruption difficult.

    He said the judiciary would be allowed to do its job and that corrupt persons would not go free.

    The candidate said that to ensure sufficient power supply, his administration would disintegrate the national grid.

    According to him, this boils down to restructuring, when this is done, things will change and price of items will reduce.

    Moghalu said his administration would focus on industrial areas and renewable energy and that about 50 per cent of power will be sourced from renewable energy.

    On insecurity, Moghalu said if elected, he would change the leadership of security agencies and intelligence gathering units.
    He said the appointment of heads of security agencies would not be based on sentiment but on competence and professionalism.

    Moghalu said that when elected as president, he would put mechanism in place to address desertification which would stem farmer/herders’clashes.(NAN)

  • Moghalu urges more investment in education sector

    Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, the presidential candidate of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), has called for a political will for more investment in the nation’s education sector.

    Moghalu, who is a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and former UN officer, made the call at a town hall meeting tagged “the Candidates’’ aired by the NTA on Wednesday in Abuja.

    He said that the major problems with the education sector were lack of political will to invest in the sector.

    “We need to invest much more in education. The second thing is that we need the autonomy of the universities. Universities need to be free. Government in most advanced country do not control universities,’’ he said.

    The candidate said that his investment would include teachers training, saying teachers in the primary and secondary schools had not risen to the global standard and that was affecting the quality of the students graduating the schools.

    He promised that if elected his government would offer free education for students in primary and secondary schools, as well subsidise education in the public universities, while private universities bear their costs.

    “We have to make sure that all the teachers in this country are re-certified to make sure that they are fit for the purpose. They have to be fit to teach our children in the 21st century.’’

    Moghalu also said that his government would reform school curriculum to be more practical in terms of technology, vocational training and technology, rather than beeing theoretical.

    “There are many sources of revenue in this country and there is also monumental amount of wastes that is going on in this country. If we stop security vote and put some of that money in our education we will do a better job of governance.

    He said that within two years of his government, he would reduce recurrent expenditure to below 50 per cent and increase capital expenditure above 50 per cent.

    Moghalu also added that his government would reform the civil service making civil servants to be productive.

    “There is need to rationalise the civil service to make it productive, and people who are redundant can be moved to other areas where they would be useful.

    “I also intend as president to recruit 1.5 million new policemen for the Nigerian Police and train and equipment them.’’

    He added that Nigeria must invest in securing the country.

    Moghalu who pledged to give attention to the diversification of the economy, also said that the country’s economy must move from politics of oil rent to innovation and manufacturing economy.

    He said that the problem of diversifying the country’s economy was that political leaders had been paying lip service to the issue.

    He said that there was no way the country’s economy could be diversified without restructuring and ensuring resource control.

    Moghalu also stressed the need for Nigeria to become a true federation, where states of the regions would control their resources and pay royalty to the Federal Government.

    He added that he believed in resource control and two tiers of government, namely including federal and the sub-national government.

    Moghalu said that when he “become the president’’ he would interact with the National Assembly and present executive bill to push for restructuring.(NAN)

  • Moghalu to chair public reading of BIG: My Vision for Our Country

    The presidential aspirant of the Young Progressive Party (YPP) and former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof. Kingsley Moghalu has been invited to chair a public reading of his book titled ‘Build, Innovate and Grow (BIG): My Vision for Our Country’.

    The event will hold at the Ibadan School Government and Public Policy (ISGPP) on Wednesday, August 15.

    The ISGPP, which is chaired by Prof. Akin Mabogunje, is an independent think tank devoted to research and training on issues of public policy in Africa.  It aims to transform public bureaucracies and political arrangements to make public policy work better than they currently do for inclusive development and democracy in Africa.

     Mabogunje, who is referred to as the ‘Father of Geography’ and one of the ‘Fathers of Social Sciences’, started his professional career as a lecturer at the University of Ibadan in 1958, became a senior lecturer in 1964 and a professor of Geography in 1965.

    He was the editor of the Nigerian Geographical Journal (1962-65); editor, Oxford University Press series on studies on Development of African Resources; President of the Nigerian Geographical Association (1972-82); Vice-President, Nigerian Ecological Society (1973-79); President of the National Council of Population Activities (1986-1992); and Executive Chairman of the Development Policy Centre, Ibadan (1996-2000).

    The book ‘BIG: My Vision for Our Country’, which officially launched on February 26 and has been described as an inspired masterpiece on strategic policy and political transformation, outlines Moghalu’s plans for a better Nigeria by dissecting each sector, stating the problems with the sector and giving the solutions required for these sectors to actually move forward.

  • We need people who believe in leadership change, says Moghalu

    Former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Deputy Governor and presidential aspirant in the 2019 election, Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, has called on Nigerians to vote leaders that will turnaround the economy and fortunes of the people for good.

    In a speech he delivered Tuesday at The Platform organised by the Covenant Christian Centre, in Lagos, Moghalu sought improved political awareness among the citizenry, which he said, would bring about leadership of choice that will meet people’s expectations.

    Excerpts:

    I come here with a message for my countrymen and women. And my heart is both warmed over and fired up by this urgent message. So let’s get right into it. You see, we are very good at ‘managing’ as Nigerians. We have become extremely good at it.

    And no one should blame us for this, to be honest. We have believed and believed so many times – and we have been disappointed. We have invested hopes and dreams in people. We have gone on strike at different times, marched on the streets at different times, shut down the nation at different times, stood in the sun to vote at different times, and we have been disappointed, sorely.

    So, we have learnt to lower our expectations. We have learnt to dream in black and white. We have learnt that we don’t deserve nice things – that the things we truly want are not possible. We have tried too many times and failed too many times that we believe the problem is trying too hard. Let’s just manage the one we have.

    Let’s manage the recovery of 165 girls. It is impossible to get back all 265.  Let’s manage a president who is not personally corrupt, it could always have been worse. Let us take the governor that promises a few flyovers but chases poor people out of our cities as if they are not human. That’s the cost of development. Let’s pretend that 60 percent of our federal revenue doesn’t go to maintaining just one million people. After all they haven’t killed anybody. Let’s manage the one we have, we tell ourselves. Because we can’t really get what it is we truly want.

    We are always very angry about many of their leaders. They take us for a ride, as they jump out of police vehicles to mock our justice system. They insult our youth, calling them lazy, even though they spend more time in the hospital than at their duty post. They insult our intelligence, claiming they will fight corruption, when they cannot even get visas to visit the United States because of their past crimes. We are angry at them, because they steal our agency, they steal our hopes, they steal our dreams, they still our capacity to imagine.

    But you know what? These leaders laugh. And you know why they laugh? Because they know that no matter how angry we say we are, they are almost certain that nothing will change. They are sure because they know that in our hearts of hearts, we don’t truly believe that Nigeria will change. We don’t believe it. We are condemned by our conviction that this is how things will always, always be. These guys know this, and so for them the party will never stop.

    When I chose to run for the highest office in Nigeria, I knew this was the primary challenge; this “manage it” attitude and sadness masked as worldly wisdom and cynicism. How do you convince people to believe the only one  thing that has ever been true in the history of humanity – that there is no force more powerful than a people who have decided that enough is truly enough?

    We have done it in Nigeria. We did it in 2011, when we together voted a minority president in a country where they told us it wasn’t possible. We did it in 2015 when we elected an opposition president in a country where ruling parties never lose national elections. We just have done it for people that we were ‘managing’, because we didn’t think we could get what we really deserved.

    Over the past three years, and especially over the past 13 months I began to visit the entire country, to learn exactly what has caused us to allow this rot to stay, to understand exactly what it will take to galvanise fellow Nigerians to reach for what is possible. I have spent quality time talking to the people no one really talks to when they hold massive rallies with people they have paid to stand in the sun, and what I have seen has convinced me of something powerful.

    And I want you to listen very carefully to what I am about to say: Nothing, absolutely nothing is stopping us from getting the exact kind of leadership we want. Nothing. We are ready, we are able, we are clear. We just don’t believe that it can happen. We just don’t believe that it is possible to get the kind of leadership we desperately need. That’s what I heard in Kano. That’s what I heard in Makurdi. That’s what I heard in Ilorin. That’s what I heard in Oron. That’s what I heard in Abeokuta. That’s what I heard in Nnewi. That’s what I heard in Ikot-Ekpene. That’s what I heard when I spoke to the young men who believe there is no hope in Nigeria, and they must follow a man who promises them freedom if only they break away from this giant disappointment. They just don’t believe that it is possible.

    The Platform speaks to the core of the Nigerian elite class, and I have a message from the streets of Nigeria to you: people desperately want a leadership that can deliver results for our economy, but they want someone who can convince them that they are not wasting their time, that they are not wasting their emotions. And they want to know that they are enough of people like them across the country who will stand up to make it happen when election season comes.

    Nigerians are not stupid. They know that their problem is not Christian or Muslim leaders. They know that it’s not Biafra or OPC. They know that at the end of the day all these people are together, whether they claim they are in the PDP today or in the APC tomorrow. I know this because I have spoken to them. I have listened to them, I have tried to understand why those before me have failed, and why it appears that we don’t know what we are doing.

    And so, I come to you with the same message I have given to them in my steady tour of Nigeria: IT. IS. POSSIBLE.  IT. CAN. HAPPEN.

    We need just 10 million people who believe this. Just 10 million, from across the country who understand this. Just 10 million who are ready and willing to take the risk, to open up their hearts, to put in the work. We need just 10 million people to make a difference. Today.

    That’s the job I have given myself. How do we find those Nigerians? How do we remind them that it is possible? And how do we get them to follow their hearts when election day comes? How do I get you to believe what I know for sure in my heart, as I stand here today – that we can disgrace those who think themselves the owners of Nigeria, the sharers of its national cake, the custodians of the limit of our possibilities?

    Are we not ashamed of what we manage? Are we not ashamed of the leaders that we have? Are you billionaires not tired of a country you have to explain and defend when you meet your counterparts at the World Economic Forum? Are you young leaders not fed up with the embarrassment of your country when you explain what’s going to your correspondents on Twitter, your fellows at global conferences, your audiences at global fora?

    You are. I am. And so this is my invitation to you: Join me in shocking this system. Join me in shaking it to its very roots. Join me in proving to ourselves that this thing we have been saying for decades is truly possible.

    We only need 10 million people to believe with their hearts, with their votes, with their monies, with their stepping on the streets to convince others to join them and vote.

    How do we do this? We start with one number. Just one. Find one person—a friend, your security guard, the woman who sells fruit round the corner, your work colleague—and tell them the truth about where Nigeria will be if they choose to vote against the status quo. Find one person and persuade them to be there at the polls in February 2019. Be their “polling buddy” make sure they have their voter’s card, make sure they are aware of the issues and what’s at stake. Then, help them be a “polling buddy” to somebody else.

    In this country, our network is our most powerful marketing tool, so it’s time to use it to become the plus one movement. It’s simple, ladies and gentlemen, start with one. To join our 10 million movement, find us on social media via @plusonemorevote so that you can join our cell groups and our volunteer army at #Plus1MoreVote across Nigeria.

    Because this is not a campaign platform, I won’t go into details on the pillars of my plan for rebuilding our country. The detail on the policy plans can be found on our website www.tobuildanation.com and have also been fully and completely fleshed in my book, Build, Innovate and Grow.

    That’s not my mission here today. My mission here today is to insist that you must believe that what you think impossible is in fact possible. My mission here today is to ask you to ignore those who will tell you not to waste your vote. Those who will tell you there are only two choices. To ignore those who will tell you that our electoral fate has always been decided in Abuja, Minna, Ikoyi, Dubai or Ota.

    That is a lie from the pit of hell. They know what they are doing when they tell you this lie. But let me tell you the truth: the only vote that is wasted is the one that doesn’t make it into the ballot box. Every time you vote or don’t vote, you are making a choice. And the enemies of our country, they are counting on the fact that you will make a choice not to show up this year to campaign, to donate or next year to vote and get those you love to vote. Or that when you show up to vote, you will choose the familiar over the necessary.

    ‘They’ only get to win if they win the battle over your heart and your mind. They claim to have extensive structure that no one else can beat. I have gone round the country, I have seen those structures. Those structures are human beings. Human beings like me and you at the ward level, at the state level, at the community level. We are building an alternative structure that can beat that structure.

    We need you to believe that it is time to deliver Nigeria from dinosaucracy – a politics of dinosaurs, for dinosaurs, by dinosaurs. These dinosaurs have infected Nigerian society with ideas and attitudes that have long since been discredited.

    Our choice as a people is stark today as it ever has been: we have a choice between dinosaurs and deliverance. If we continue to be led by these dinosaurs and the people they endorse, the sunlight of our hopes for Nigeria will continue to be blotted out by dark clouds of incompetence, corruption, economic illiteracy and primitive tribalism.

    It is time for all of you who are tired, like I am tired. It is time to make things happen. Time to pump fresh ideas into solving our problems. It is time to drive the point home that Nigeria is nothing without the people—and the people need to come first from now on.

    It is time to shake the table of Nigeria’s current political class. It is time for us to get off the side lines and come together as one to change the course of this nation. There is no need staying in different camps if we can come together to shake up this system. If you are not one of those benefiting directly from this nyama-nyama version of Nigeria, then it is safe to say you are of those who future is being mortgaged.

    Our time has finally come. Let us shock these dinosaurs with our resolve, and our collective capacity. Let us take Nigeria back from those who believe that it belongs to them and their children. Let us be proud of Nigeria once and for all. And you better stop telling yourself that it cannot be done. God bless Nigeria. Let’s get to work!

     

  • A case for women

    A case for women

    Today in Nigeria, UNICEF reports that there are about 15 million Nigerian children of school age already out of school – the highest rate in the world. Of all those, 5.5 million are girls; again the highest number of girls of school age out of school anywhere in the world.

    I start with these damning figures because the main barriers to fair treatment of and equal opportunities for women are rooted in debilitating cultural habits that favour boys over girls in the wrong belief that women do not need education to fulfill what many consider their gender roles. Sadly, it’s not only the political class in Nigeria that has failed women and girls, it is all of us. “When we build up women we build our nation and our communities.”

    Not only do I write this in my book, for me it is a steadfast belief and absolute truth. Rather than dwell on the unfair hand that women have been dealt though, on this day, I want to focus on how we can do better and even lead the rest of the world in terms of being respecters of womankind. Some may say that gender parity is a problem of the privileged in the Nigeria that we live in today.

    I refer those people to the wisdom of Nelson Mandela: It is important that government structures understand that true freedom and prosperity cannot be achieved unless…we see in visible and practical terms that the condition of women in our country has radically changed for the better, and that they have been empowered in all spheres of life as equal. There are five major areas in which women in Nigeria have lived with inequality: access to education for young girls; access to finance; women’s marital protection rights; violence against women, and the poor ratios of women representation in political and corporate leadership in Nigeria.

    On access to education for girls, I propose that the federal and state governments in Nigeria make primary and secondary education mandatory. Because poverty and cultural habits reinforce the disadvantages to girls in this regard, I believe we must now be more creative with the kinds of incentives that should be trotted out to facilitate compliance. An example will be a kind of household subsidy to families below the poverty line who comply with laws and policies to ensure the education of girls.

    Beyond incentives, it is vital to engage traditional rulers and other custodians of culture in our country in a structured and consistent dialogue on why it is in the broader interest of the society for girls to go to school.

    On access to finance, I have five recommendations: The Central Bank of Nigeria should create an enabling policy environment for the establishment of women’s banks by the private sector, that can provide funding for women to start their own businesses or grow pre-existing businesses, with minimal collateral.

    Financial institutions and the governments should partner to provide venture capital and private equity funding to female-owned businesses.  Banking institutions should increase their products tailored to women’s preferences and constraints.

    The CBN should revamp its micro-finance policy, which has so far not achieved the vision that inspired the institution of microfinance banking in Nigeria, to serve mostly women and be owned mostly by women. This is why microfinance has been successful in Asia but has not succeeded in Nigeria: the concept was predominantly female-oriented, while in Nigeria microfinance has been erroneously operated as mini-commercial banks.

    Financial inclusion policy, training and advocacy in Nigeria should be more specifically focused on women in order to bridge the gender gap and also improve access to finance more broadly. Failure to take this approach is why Nigeria has remained far from meeting its goal of reducing financial exclusion by 80 per cent by 2020, to which the CBN committed Nigeria in the global Alliance for financial inclusion.

    On women’s marital protection rights, I really believe that we as a people first need a complete reorientation about the purpose of marriage to both men and women. We are way past the years of ownership of others’ bodies and dreams. A woman’s ambition cannot continue to be made contingent on the things that small-minded men “allow”.

    While we undergo this reorientation, we must simultaneously begin to implement policies that protect the rights of women during a divorce settlement or death of spouse based on cultural/family dynamics and traditions should be more vigorously developed and implemented, especially at the state and community levels.

    On violence against women, I believe we have been more reactive than proactive so far. Response to violent treatment of any woman must not be limited to commentary on social media. The perpetrators of the violence must be held accountable every time.

    Also, more state government must strive to emulate the Lagos State’s Domestic Violence Response Team which has greatly encouraged victims of all forms of abuse to promptly report their experiences without any fear of being stigmatised or even reprimanded.

    On the poor ratios of women representation in political and corporate leadership in Nigeria, I strongly believe the solution lies in the political domain.

    I recommend the following: Female and male voters  should inflict “political punishment” on all members of the National Assembly that voted against the Gender Equality Bill by campaigning and voting for their defeat in the 2019 legislative elections.

    The election of a presidential candidate, whether man or woman, with a clear program and track record of support and advocacy for female gender equality in Nigeria and beyond

    The adoption by the next President of Nigeria of an aspirational policy target of 50:50 gender parity in appointments to the cabinet and other political appointments, and in no event to achieve a gender gap closure rate of less than 40 per cent of political appointees being qualified and competent women with proven track records.

    The revival and sustained implementation of the national Gender Policy adopted by the federal Ministry of women and Social Affairs in 2008 in consultation with state governments and international development agencies.

    The prioritisation of constitutional and human rights of women to freedom from discrimination over conservative interpretations of religion in national and state legislation, bearing in mind that Nigeria is a secular and not a theocracy.

    Implementation of these policies requires better education of both genders at all levels on the rights of women, and the socioeconomic dividends gender equality yields. In our homes and in our schools, we must do what it takes to move women—and therefore our country—forward.

    I’d like to leave you with this: A World Bank research paper estimates that the opportunity cost of not investing in educating girls is a loss of Gross Domestic Product up from anywhere from 1.2 to 1.5 per cent. Nigeria’s GDP grew at under two per cent last year.

    Prof. Moghalu is President, Institute for Governance and Economic Transformation and Nigerian presidential candidate.

     

  • 2019: Moghalu declares for presidency

    2019: Moghalu declares for presidency

    A former Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, on Wednesday declared his intention to run for the presidency in 2019.

    Moghalu declared his intention at a press conference held at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Center in Abuja.

    The former CBN official said he would not be intimidated by the popularity of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2019.

    He noted that Nigeria deserves a youthful leader with clear vision to move the country to enviable heights.

    Moghalu said: “With love for our country and a fierce commitment to a vision of rapid progress for our more than 180 million citizens and following wide-ranging consultations, I offer myself to serve you as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as from May 29, 2019.

    “I therefore intend to be a candidate in the 2019 presidential election. I seek the opportunity to offer our country, a visionary, purposeful and competent leadership to build our future.

    “Nearly 60 years ago, our founding fathers Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Sir Ahmadu Bello and Chief Obafemi Awolowo envisioned a great country that would take its pride of place in the world based on the talents of its citizens and a constitutional federation that would ensure justice, equity, and economic productivity.

    “Their vision and hopes have yet to materialize. Military rule, oil booms and busts, and the successive leadership failures of our civilian political class have combined to rob us of what seemed our destiny at independence.

    “I am standing here today saying that it is time we shatter the downward spiral to nowhere.

    “I am here today, standing with the 110 missing girls of Dapchi and their grieving family, and with the traumatized young women of Chibok, those with us and those still in captivity.”

    The former United Nations official, who is yet to pick a political party where he would contest, said Nigerian leaders lacked the economic philosophy to stir the ship of the nation.

    “We have over 50 political parties in Nigeria today, so Nigerians should not allow intimidation from any political party.

    “I have not announced today the party platform on which I intend to contest for the presidency. My focus for now is the people of Nigeria and not on party platforms that have in the past been mere vehicles for capturing political power,” he added.

     

  • Nigeria must turn vision to reality, say Anyaoku, Sanusi

    Nigeria must turn vision to reality, say Anyaoku, Sanusi

    A former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku; Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II and a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, on Monday urged Nigerians to find ways to actualise the country’s potential.

    They identified several factors including good leadership, effective social policies and proper use of innovation as ways to create sustainable economic growth for the country.

    They spoke in Lagos at the launch of Moghalu’s book “Build Innovate Grow (BIG): A vision for my country.”

    Guests at the event included a former Director-General of the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE), Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke; a former Chief of General Staff, Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe and former Cross River Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Eyo Ekpo, among others.

    Anyaoku, who chaired the occasion, commended Moghalu for identifying and suggesting solutions to the country’s problems in BIG.

    These problems, he noted, had ensured that Nigeria “is still a country and not yet a nation.”

    He said: “We have far too many fissiparous tendencies in our country and we spend a lot of time in castigations and vituperations about who among us is the greater wrecker of our country than the other, whether in terms of individuals or groups such as ethnic or religious groups.”

    According to Anyaoku, the solution lies in restructuring.

    Anyaoku added: “No country can be reckoned with abroad in a situation in which its domestic situation is as fragile and fundamentally unsettled as Nigeria’s is today. And as I have said on many occasions, the key to stabilising Nigeria and guaranteeing its deserved economic progress lies in restructuring the country’s current governance architecture back to a truly federal structure composed of more viable federating units as was the case in the 1960 and 1963 constitutions.”

    But Sanusi suggested a different approach to tackling the country’s ills, such as a re-examination of the country’s ineffective social policy framework.

    The former CBN Governor, who was represented by the Sarkin Kano, Alhaji Shehu Mohammed, commended Moghalu for the economic and social roadmap presented in BIG.

    Sanusi said: “If any country needs a bold vision of how to turn its underachieved potential into reality, it is Nigeria. Few are more equipped and prepared to offer such a roadmap as Kingsley Moghalu.

    “We can’t have good governance without good leaders and good leadership. Those attributes are essential for nation-building. Meanwhile, to create a thriving Nigerian economy we must have a stable and cohesive nation.

    “As Kingsley writes in BIG, our country surely needs to revisit the role of its women and youth in our society. It is time to end gender discrimination. Women and youth must be mainstreamed into governance and the democratic process.”

  • Moghalu lauds Ekwueme’s contributions to Nigeria’s unity

    Moghalu lauds Ekwueme’s contributions to Nigeria’s unity

    Former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability, Prof.  Kingsley Moghalu has eulogized former Vice President of Nigeria, Dr. Alex Ekwueme. In a speech delivered at the memorial service for Ekwueme in London, United Kingdom, Moghalu said the former number two citizen helped to unity the country.

    Excerpts….

    The great Greek philosopher and scientist Aristotle once wrote. “Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”

    Nigeria sometimes feels like a nation that has lost its direction. In many ways, we are a country that sees excellence as difficult to achieve in leadership and many of us feel powerless to change it. Then every so often, someone comes along repackaging old promises in a shiny new box, telling us they are the answer to all our woes, only to leave us disappointed once again. What is the result? A place where almost 200 million people fight to secure their individual destiny, where the collective good is often an afterthought. That is not a country.

    Dr Alex Ekwueme spent his career and his life seeking to unify us all as a nation, using the weapons of honesty, integrity, and truth. As a business man, as a politician, and as a philanthropist, his goal was to always use the power of unity to build better things—whether it was a people, a party, or a country. His vision was to build a nation with one goal, and one dream, with all of us working as one to lift all our boats in collective prosperity.

    As we gather here today to remember the man we must learn from his legacy. Unity is a formidable weapon. It can move mountains, it can change tides. It can reform a nation and set us on a path to fulfilling our destiny as a true giant of Africa. We must learn to compromise—wisely—and accept our differences to come together for the greater good. The Ide was a man who ultimately believed in the equality of all citizens of Nigeria, and our ingenuity in finding solutions.

    As we remember his selfless work, we Nigerians must put our heads together to defeat our sense of persecution and speaking in one voice, aligned in purpose to build something great. Young and old, man and woman, we all must take the lessons from his life and apply them to everything we do, and Nigeria will be a nation reformed and reborn. We must learn to vigorously inspire each other using the strengths and uniqueness of our differences, the unparalleled skill of enterprise and the passion for innovation he that our people are famous for. The Ide pushed the cause for his kinsmen to fire the competitive spirit that built excellence in the nation.

    As we mourn our father, kinsman, mentor, friend, and fellow comrade, let us remember to uphold the values he believed in. Let us as citizens stride forward collectively and work for a more prosperous and egalitarian society. His legacy demands much of us; asking us to be active participants in seeking the leadership that can truly make Nigeria the very best version of itself as a country, of us as a people. To remember and honor him will not be in the eulogies we will share today but in our lives, expressing the values he lived for.

    We must move to make him proud by putting ourselves up for service to fill the big shoes he has left and work to right the wrongs of this nation. We must make Ide proud by ensuring Nigeria works even beyond what he would have dreamed. The iroko may have fallen but the seeds have taken strong root in fertile ground.

    On behalf of myself, and the entire family of the late Elder Isaac Moghalu, my late father, I would like to express our deepest condolences to the family of the Ide. Our thoughts and prayers are with his son, Pastor Goodheart Obi Ekwueme and his daughter Mrs. Chidi Onyemelukwe and her husband Dr. Okey Onyemelukwe, who are close friends of my wife and me.

    In his habits and in his actions, the Ide was truly a man who lived up to his name, Alexander, “defender of men”.

    May he rest in peace.

  • How Nigeria can compete optimally in global economy – Moghalu

    How Nigeria can compete optimally in global economy – Moghalu

    Former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Deputy Governor and Founder, Institute for Governance and Economic Transformation (IGET), Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, has called on Nigerians to wake up to their responsibilities and utilise the power of their voices and votes to take control of their future.

    Speaking at the Emerging Political Leaders Summit held at the Shehu Musa Yar’adua Center, Abuja, Moghalu harped on the need to address the factors making it difficult for the country to compete optimally in the global market.

    Themed Breaking the Economic and Political Status Quo, the summit was organised under the co-chairmanship of Frank Nweke and Senator Yusuf Datti Baba –Ahmed, which was meant to shine the light on the needs of a country, which in the words of Baba Ahmed, “has basked in its own potential and enormous economic potential while its citizenry have been subjected a vicious cycle of misgovernance for several decades.

    Challenging all emerging political leaders in Nigeria to chart a worldview which will serve as its national philosophy, he said “It is time to give Nigerians a sense of self. It is time to define who we are, to determine our direction and how we intend to get there; a sense that compares us to other societies that we started out with. This is the time to renew our minds and for all Nigerians to understand that development is a state of mind and not a transaction”.

    He concluded by calling on Nigerians to utilise the powers of their office as citizens, saying “it is time for vision, technocratic knowledge and competence in political leadership in this country”.

    Other speakers at the event include Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, former sports minister and spokesperson to the All Progressive Congress; Ayisha Osori, columnist, author and Board member of OSIWA, and Senator Babafemi Ojudu, the special assistant to the President on Political Matters.