*As Retiring Sociology Professor Lists Ways Out
Former National Commissioner at the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof Lai Olurode, has lamented how poor leadership has failed Nigerians.
Olurode, who retired from the Department of Sociology and delivered his valedictory lecture at the University of Lagos on Tuesday, said decades of poor leadership has led the country into the doldrums adding that the situation keeps being worsened by new crop of leadership who also fail to learn from the past.
His paper was titled: ““Knowledge selector, public interest and power structure.”
He said part of the problems is in the inability of the leaders to harness the energy of younger Nigerians saying that even those trained with resources belonging to the country don’t believe in the country’s capacity to make them realise their potential.
Olurode cited the instance of medical doctors who he said Nigeria trains but leave for better opportunities abroad because the country cannot take care of their future.
“Nigeria spends money to train doctors but make it hard for them to stay here and when our rich men go abroad for medical reasons, who do they meet there? They meet Nigerians who ran away from their country,” Olurode told his audience.
He said the country’s leadership itself does not believe in homegrown ideas giving the instance of the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information system, IPPIS which the government insisted it would use to pay all workers.
He said when universities came up with the locally grown idea of University Transparency and Accountability System, UTAS the government kicked against it.
“Look at the situation in Nigeria, the government deployed the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information system, IPPIS, in the university system. Lecturers under the aegis of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, said it has come up with the University Transparency and Accountability System, UTAS, but the government sticks to the foreign one, the IPPIS.
“Even if the UTAS has some flaws, why don’t we use it and work on it to perfect it. The hostility of the government to intellectual discourse is uncalled for. Now, if we take access to tertiary education in public institutions away from the children of the masses, the private universities cannot adequately fill the gap.”
He said when foreigners sell ideas to the Nigerian government, the government is quick to embrace adding that even when they dictate how the nation’s youths should be trained, the government bows to foreign ideas.
“Unfortunately, African nations that bought such idea and make education unaffordable for their youths are the worst for it,” he added
Saying that government policies have almost killed public education system, Olurode said the proliferation of private universities has done more damages to the nation’s diverse culture than helping to solve challenges in the education of the youths.
“Private universities don’t allow for the kind of diversities that public universities offer. Already, we are grappling with the high number of out-of-school children. The bitter truth is that the children that the rich strive to educate may not be able to enjoy life because those who could not go to school would not give them rest of mind,” he stated.
Olurode said people government must first believe in the ability of the people to find solutions to their problems.
He said it is only in this that the energy of the people could be harnessed for the good of the nation.
He said leadership must shun corruption, work for the good of the people and create enabling environment for citizens to participate.
At the event on Tuesday were former Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof Ramon Bello and wife of the former Lagos state Governor, Alhaja Abimbola Lateef Jakande.