Senate President says Nigeria’s problem is lack of leadership

Senate President Ahmad Lawan says Nigeria needs to adopt a deliberate policy to sustain and create leadership at all levels of governance, as there was a dearth of quality leadership in the country.

Mr. Lawan, who leads Nigeria’s ninth National Assembly, disclosed at the inauguration of the fourth cohort of the Kashim Ibrahim Fellowship in Kaduna.

The senate president explained that the lack of leadership at all levels of government in Nigeria is a major factor preventing Nigeria from attaining certain development

According to him, there is a need for government at all levels to come up with a deliberate leadership policy to help complement the kind of goals the country must achieve a structure in public service.

“In all cases, we never stated anything about leadership in Nigeria for us to reach the level of development that we need in our country, every part, segment and strata of the society must have a developed, deliberately focused leadership, so that what we do at the local level compliments what we do at the state level and from there, terminating at the apex – at the Federal level,” Mr. Lawan said.

“No matter how hard we try to develop our country at the federal level if our states are not able to provide the kind of leadership and complementary development, then we cannot achieve the kind of goals and targets that we feel we must achieve as a country,” he said.

Speaking further on the security challenges in the country, he stated that there is a need for a collaborative effort from all state governments to overcome security challenges and not just those outrightly affected by banditry and terrorism.

He said that if there are quality leaders at all levels of government it will positively impact the country because they are being prepared for the task.

“It is not about your state; wherever there is a good development in this country it spirals into others. When Boko-Haram started in the North-East, some people felt that was a Borno state matter but today Boko Haram is beyond Nigeria and no one in Nigeria is safe.

“It is with leadership, if we have leadership in any part of the country it wraps up positively on other parts of the country.

“When we have these arrays of leaders Nigeria has a hope that we will have leaders who are not only willing to give leadership because they happened to be there but because they have been prepared to give leadership,” he added.

During the inauguration, Kaduna State governor, Nasir El Rufai, said his administration’s belief in the capability of young people informed the decision to initiate the Kashim Ibrahim Fellowship conceived to help widen the pool of young persons and groom future generations of leaders.

In 2015, Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, set up the Kashim Ibrahim Fellowship, a leadership mentorship, and training program for young people.

The program is named after the first Governor of Northern Nigeria, Sir Kashim Ibrahim. Members are being selected across the country to join the initiative which helps to build young people’s minds positively