ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- The Enugu State gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peter Mbah says the only way Nigeria could fight its current multifaceted challenges was through right leadership at all levels.
Mr. Mbah stated this at the weekend while delivering a lecture as guest speaker at the University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus, Enugu State.
The theme of the annual lecture series was “Leadership in Modern Times: Youths Bridging The Gap”, and was organised by the Medical Research and Humanitarian Society, University of Nigeria.
He lamented the state of the nation, describing it as discouraging to the youths.
He said that security collapse, high crime rate and the ongoing industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian University (ASUU), were products of bad leadership in the country.
Speaking on the theme, Mbah expressed confidence that only the right leadership would put Nigeria back to track by harnessing the huge potentials of the nation’s youths to build a country of their dream.
He said, “Good leadership should not only be about leadership traits, or visionary nature, but also about the ability of the leader to convey his vision and most of all, about his ability to carry his team through the motion of moving from their current state, to achieve their envisioned state.
“The test of leadership is the management of the journey and the dynamics of carrying the team along to the final objective.”
He also stated that Africa is still battling with the kind of leadership model its colonial masters bequeathed on it which he called, heroic leadership complex, where leaders wanted to be worshipped as heroes rather than seeing themselves as servants of the people they’re representing.
According to him, this had led to the collapse of leadership in Nigeria where youths are now at the receiving end.
“The collapse of leadership in Africa has had a reverberating effect on youths of the continent. Nigeria for example reflects this collapse in the different malaises suffered by the youths.
“For instance, the level of nepotism that is currently in the country, the collapse of security, the menace of students staying at home for upwards of seven months , due to the inability of government and the lecturers’ union to come to an accord on issues of funding of universities have a linkage to this collapse.
“More significantly is the fear that the Nigerian economy can go bankrupt if no urgent steps are taken to halt the decline,” he observed.”
While sharing his experience over the past two decades as a successful public and private sector figure, the former Commissioner for Finance and Economic Development in Enugu State said the youths and other aspiring leaders must never stop learning new things in a technologically driven dynamic system
“They must seek out opportunities of responsibility or service; build self-discipline; learn to be good team players; build virile communication skills and always think of innovation or new ways of doing things.
Earlier in his welcome address, President of MEDRHUS, Anigbo Stephen expressed his profound appreciation for the presence of the guest speaker.
He said the knowledge he would impact on the youths would make them more useful to themselves and the society.
He stated that Mbah as a leader has paved way for development of the youths in the society through his disruptive innovation and entrepreneurship drives.