Vice Dean of the Faculty of Communication and Media Studies at the University of Uyo, Prof. Charles Obot, has called for an urgent review of Nigeria’s leadership recruitment process, saying the country must reform how it selects its leaders to overcome persistent governance challenges.
Key Highlights:
- University don urges reform of Nigeria’s leadership recruitment process.
- He blames poor leadership for the country’s development challenges.
- Speakers call for integrity, transparency, and accountability in governance.
- NDPC says over 500,000 tech jobs are available, urging youths to gain digital skills.
- Conference participants say better leadership and followership are key to national development.
Prof. Obot made the call while speaking at a one-day international conference hosted by the Topfaith University, Mkpatak, in Essien Udim Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.
The conference had the theme: “Leadership and Governance in a Changing World: Navigating Opportunities and Challenges for Nigeria.”
According to him, poor leadership and weak governance have remained Nigeria’s greatest obstacles to national development.
He stressed that meaningful progress would only be achieved when leaders embrace integrity, honesty, transparency, and accountability in both their public and private lives.
He argued that the country’s current leadership selection process requires urgent reform, criticizing what he described as frequent conflicts involving political parties and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) during election periods.
“Nigeria has to review the process of selecting leaders, not the present situation where political parties and the Independent National Electoral Commission are fighting each other in the name of selecting leaders for the next election,” he said.
Prof. Obot also lamented the treatment of whistleblowers in Nigeria, noting that individuals who expose wrongdoing are often victimized rather than rewarded.
He maintained that no nation can achieve sustainable development when honesty and integrity are discouraged.
He identified key attributes of effective leadership as vision, resilience, timely decision-making, teamwork, ethical conduct, and prudent management of public resources.
Also speaking at the event, the Chief Executive Officer of Excellence Community Education Welfare Scheme (ECEWS), Andy Eyo, delivered a paper titled: “Social Entrepreneurship in a Challenging Environment: The ECEWS Story in Building Resilient Institutions in Nigeria.”
Eyo described entrepreneurship as a critical leadership quality that enables leaders to create opportunities, stimulate economic growth, and tackle unemployment.
He urged Nigeria to overhaul its leadership recruitment process to produce leaders capable of driving innovation, increasing the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and advancing technological development.
Reflecting on the growth of ECEWS, Eyo said the organisation began as a simple vision but has grown into an internationally recognised institution with operations extending to the United States.
“A leader must be visionary. When we started ECEWS, it was just an ordinary vision, but today it has materialised and our tentacles have spread to the United States.When you have integrity, people will trust you with their money,” he said.
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Delivering the keynote address, the Chief Executive Officer and Federal Commissioner of the Nigerian Data Protection Commission (NDPC), Vincent Olatunji, spoke on “Leadership and Governance in a Data-Driven World: Navigating Opportunities, Risks and National Development in Nigeria.”
Olatunji revealed that more than 500,000 job vacancies currently exist in Nigeria for computer scientists and data analysts.
He encouraged young Nigerians to acquire relevant digital skills to take advantage of the opportunities, describing the data economy as a pathway to reducing unemployment and promoting youth participation in governance.
Chairman of Topfaith University, Emmanuel Abraham, observed that leadership challenges in Nigeria cannot be discussed without also examining the role of followers.
According to him, addressing both leadership and followership issues is essential to achieving balanced and sustainable national development.
He expressed optimism that recommendations from the conference would provide valuable guidance for policymakers and decision-makers across different sectors.
