By David Dari, Keffi
A professor of Public Policy Analysis from the Nasarawa State University Keffi (NSUK) Professor Abdullahi Mohammed Yamma has urged Nigeria leaders who are willing to fight corruption to ensure that they themselves shun the acts of corruption in whatever form otherwise it will continue to remain a rhetoric.
The university don who made the assertion in an interview with journalists at the end of the university’s 57th inaugural lecture, which he presented yesterday in the university’s assembly hall, lamented how Nigeria leaders are self-centered and corrupt.
In his words, “If you want to be free from corruption also fight yourself to be free from corruption otherwise you wouldn’t make it. You hardly find good leaders in the country for now.
“There’s none, because everyone of them decide for himself right from 1979 when we had the first executive president up till now. Maybe we will see the good ones in our lifetime in the near future”, he said.
While presenting the inaugural lecture with the title: Value Based Leadership Styles: Modelling and Theorizing The Dynamics of Governance in Nigeria, Professor Yamma, lamented that Nigeria is passing through numerous challenges which include poor leadership, corruption, and inadequate accountability, which hinder the country’s development.
According to him, value-based leadership offers a credible path to reforming Nigeria’s governance dynamics, adding that its success depends on institutional reforms, political will and active citizen engagements.
Some of the recommendations he made for Nigeria leaders to ensure that the country wakes up from her slumber or backwardness include: leaders must rule according to the oath of office taken while they are being sworn into office. Leaders should be prudent in the management of financial and material resources and avoid corruption.
He added that leaders should exhibit exemplary character whether in or out of office and ensure equitable distribution of resources amongst all sections of the country amongst others.
Also in an interview with journalists the Vice Chancellor of the university, Professor Sa’adatu Hassan Liman said, “As Professor Abdullahi Mohammed Yamma has presented his inaugural lecture, he is now an accomplished professor and the university community is proud of him.
“It will interest you to know that he has presented models and leadership as well as chooses value-based ones which we hope that Nigeria leaders would study and abide by them, because that is what we need in Nigeria today and I urge Nigerians to pay attention to his work, Sa’adatu said.”
She further urged other professors within the university who are yet present theirs to do, because inaugural lecture gives a scholar the ability to present his lifetime achievements. The value addition that he has made in the area of scholarship and what he intends and how he intends to expand his journey.