Nigeria Must Train Leaders for Africa to Rise Again, Says NIPR President
Dr. Ike Neliaku, president of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), has said that for Africa to overcome its protracted leadership challenges, the continent must engage in deliberate ‘growthing’ of leaders.
Neliaku spoke during the induction ceremony of masters and doctoral students of Abuja Leadership Centre (ALC) at University of Abuja yesterday.
He said that bad leadership has done incalculable damage to Africa, particularly in Nigeria, calling for deliberate efforts to nurse and groom passionate leaders to activate numerous latent potentials of the country.
“If you don’t groom good leaders, don’t expect to have one. What is going on here today is grooming good leaders, but I call it ‘growthing” new leaders that will have a new mindset to give new leadership to Nigeria,” he stated.
Neliaku stressed the importance of serious investment in the process of training leaders, saying that it took about 10 years of intensive research for the Nigerian Prize For Leadership (NPL) the organisation he serves as the Executive Secretary to set up a proper leadership grooming structure as a platform to give leadership training to young Nigerians.
He commended the Federal Government for appointing nine youths as Ministers and called for more inclusivity in other components of the society, such as people with disabilities.
The NIPR President thanked the Vice Chancellor of University of Abuja, Prof. Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah for his roles in ensuring that the ALC is fully activated for optimal functioning and urged the inductees of the centre to demonstrate leadership in every sphere of influence.
Earlier in his remarks, Prof. Na’Allah said that the Centre plays a critical role in the development of sound leaders in the country in line with the vision of the nation’s liberation fathers, applauding TETFund for citing the centre in the university.
He warned the inductees to stay away from acts capable of bringing the name of the Centre to disrepute, saying that the university will not hesitate to disown any individual found in the act of wrongdoings.
“We want them to become true leaders of our country. No corruption, no manipulation, but total interest and patriotism for Nigeria. We want them to have skills to be good leaders of this country,” Prof. Na’Allah noted.
According to the Director of the Centre, Prof Philip Afaha, a total of 140 inductees were enrolled at the 3rd induction ceremony.
