By Ikenna Nwokedi
Former Governor of Anambra State and Labour Party Presidential Candidate, Mr Peter Obi on recently expressed worry that bad leadership is turning African nations into criminal enterprise where corruption reigns supreme.
Mr. Obi made the remarks during the 12th Annual Zik Lecture Series with the theme “Reclaiming Zik’s World: Climate Justice and Africa’s Sustainable Development held at ASUU Secretariat, UNIZIK Awka.
He lamented that the education sector is given poor priority my successive government which has seen the University system poorly funded. The former Governor of Anambra State said the problem of Africa and Nigeria rest clearly on bad leadership, not colonialism.
According to him, bad Leadership is the fulcrum of Nigeria’s sociopolitical woes and economic quagmire.
He revealed that the overhead of a University Vice-Chancellor in Nigeria is about N10million and N120million a year, while, an official vehicle of a federal lawmaker could cost above N140million which he termed as a huge misplacement of priority.
On his part, UNIZIK Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Charles Esimone, FAS, disclosed that the 12th edition of the Zik Lecture Series has consistently spanned four successive administrations of the University, attracting eminent national and international personalities. Prof. Esimone stated that ZIK’s legacies and political ideology is one which present leaders need to study and borrow a leaf from so as to get the nation thrive in all spheres of human endeavour and achieve proper socioeconomic development.
Earlier, in a keynote Speech, Former President of Malawi, Dr. Joyce Banda lamented that African leaders are corrupt and involved in organized crime that is stalling the progress of the continent.
According to her, corruption in the form of looting, economic and electoral malpractices is cankerworm ravaging Africa’s growth. She noted that Africa leaders must toe the path of virtues of nationalists like Nnamdi Azikiwe, Nelson Mandela and the likes, if they must actualize the dream of the heroes past.
Earlier in his opening remarks, the Governor of Oyo State and chairman of the occasion, Dr. Seyi Makinde, maintained that there was no better way to celebrate the Father of Nigeria’s nationalism than through the Annual Zik Series and advocated complete restructuring of Nigeria.
Dr Makinde described ZIk as a Pan-African humanist whose legacies will remain evergreen in the history of the nation’s existence.
