The former Senior Special Assistant on Media to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Reuben Abati, has advocated for a total shift from the mode of preparing Nigeria’s future leaders to modern trends that prioritize leadership education and capacity-building.
Abati noted that it is imperative to equip leaders with formal education programs, one that integrate leadership training, policy analysis, and crisis management skills as part of the key requirements in preparing Nigeria’s leaders for the future.
He gave the recommendations on Tuesday in Abuja as a guest speaker at Baze University’s 14th anniversary and first founder’s lecture.
His lecture was titled “Leadership in a Disruptive Era: Ethics, Accountability, and the Future of Governance in Nigeria.”
Like many developing nations, Abati said Nigeria was grappling with continuous disruptions, which affect its progress, the well-being of its people, and its overall level of growth and development.
“The clearest indication is that political instability, economic fluctuations, security challenges, technological advancements and evolving social dynamics have created an environment that demands adaptive and ethical leadership, which is for the most part lacking, creating much alienation between the people and those who lead them.
“In such a context, for corrective purposes, governance requires resilience, foresight, and integrity to address emerging crises while maintaining public trust”
He noted that in a disruptive era, leadership transcends traditional authority and requires a proactive, visionary, and ethical approach.
“Nigeria’s governance challenges necessitate leaders who can anticipate potential disruptions and devise adaptive strategies to mitigate their impact. Leadership in this context should be transformative, emphasizing innovation, inclusivity, and collaboration with key stakeholders.”
To navigate governance challenges, Abati said leaders must be equipped with modern educational skills.
“Institutions such as the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) play a crucial role in fostering strategic leadership development, but their curricula must be continuously updated to reflect contemporary governance challenges.
“Institutional reforms are essential for sustainable governance. Weak institutions have historically hindered Nigeria’s development, allowing corruption and inefficiency to thrive,” he said.
Speaking of the importance of the lecture theme to the students in an interview with the media, Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Jamila Shu’ara, said the university is a ground for preparing Nigeria’s future leaders.
“We have to teach our students to be leaders of tomorrow, and you can see the quality of the questions and observations that they asked. They have hope in us, they have hope in our country, and they have hope in tomorrow.
“We are convinced that the tutoring they go through in our university prepares them well enough to face the challenges of tomorrow,” she said.
Shu’ara was optimistic that, though Baze University is fourteen years old, it has emerged as one of the leading universities in Nigeria.
“We see Baze University being the best university in Nigeria. The significance of today’s Founders Day is to celebrate, first, the vision of the visionary and the vision of the dreamer, and also to celebrate the faculty and the staff that have supported this vision, to celebrate the products that are the graduates that we produce, and to celebrate our alumni.
“All this we put together today to remind ourselves that for us as an institution, we still hope and feel that the most potent tool to change the world is education.”
[newtelegraphng]