Prof. Attahiru Jega, the former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), declared on Sunday that Nigerians are “unfortunate citizens of the world.”
He explained that this is because the country’s leadership “leaves much to be desired, in the context of a civil democratic dispensation.”
“Leadership Recruitment – The Missing Anchor in Our National Development,” Jega said during a pre-Ramadan lecture organized by the University of Lagos Muslim Alumni (UMA) on the theme “Leadership Recruitment – The Missing Anchor in Our National Development.”
Jega, who was Chairman of the occasion, said Nigerian leaders lacked “a sustainable vision for our country’s development, selflessness in elective public leadership positions, competence and capacity to lead a country in the 21st century, and in terms of having an enlightened self-interest to galvanize and forge elite consensus on how to reposition, stabilize and develop the country on a sustainable basis.”
He stressed that leadership recruitment process is central to entrenching good governance and resolving “the poor governance.”
“We evidently have been recruiting and appointing/electing inappropriate leaders, quite often, round pegs in square holes, and undermining, rather than, strengthening our governance, democratic and development processes,” he said.
