A former Minister of Education and Founder, School of Politics, Policy and Governance (SPPG), Dr Obiageli Ezekwesili, has blamed the lack of quality political leadership for the country’s economic woes.
Ezekwesili, who spoke at the inaugural session of the SPPG Distinguished Guest Speaker Series at the weekend, also called for a concerted effort to demand a new constitution, political, electoral and economic restructuring of the country.
She explained that the indices of growth and development showed that citizens of Nigeria and the rest of Africa need a politics that leads to good governance.
Speaking on the theme, ‘Power, Performance and Legitimacy: Renewing Global Democratic Momentum’, she explained that the central thesis of #FixPolitics research was that “the absence of good governance is the greatest obstacle” to Nigeria’s economic development.
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Ezekwesili told the participants that the “failure of the country’s variant of politics and public leadership inherently subverts public good and places their personal and narrow interests above the collective wellbeing of citizens. Whether it is 2020 or 2060, nothing about Nigeria can change without a transformation of its politics,” adding that African politicians have not delivered on the contract between them and the people.
On the way out, Ezekwesili called for the establishment of unconventional SPPG to flood the political space with a new class of valued-based politicians that would emerge on a large scale.
She said there was need for a new set of Nigerians trained on customised curriculum on ethical politics, policy and governance to offer a new dominant political culture that would subordinate personal interest to the collective welfare of Nigerians, stressing the need to mobilise the Nigerians to collectively demand a new constitution, political, electoral and economic restructuring of the country.
“Only Nigerian citizens working together can compel the three arms of government to respond urgently and avert the imminent collapse of Nigeria into a failed state (Nigeria is the number 13 country on the global ranking of failed states),” she said.
On his part, Prof Larry Diamond from Stanford University, United States of America, condemned the practice where the ruling party controls the political space, electoral process and makes credible elections impossible.
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