Umunna urges Nigerian leaders to take business of governance seriously
…Says, ‘Lack of respect for rule of law has eroded nation’s values’
Nigerian leaders have been urged to take the business of governance very seriously so as to move the country to the right direction.
Making the call in a statement released in Lagos, Leonard Umunna, bishop, Bible Life Church, noted that Nigeria had not made the desired progress in her 60 years post-independence, blaming the problem on leadership failures.
“Nigeria has consistently been going down. The major problem really has been with leadership as the late Chinua Achebe noted in his book, ‘The Trouble with Nigeria’. It is a sad commentary that at 60, the country is retrogressing by all standards,” Umunna said.
The cleric further said that the impression of some people, foreigners and citizens alike is that Nigerian leaders “are good policy formulators but bad policy implementers.”
He also said that the trouble of Nigeria started when citizens and leaders began to sidestep ethics, morals, values, and picked up unsuitable replacements that promote corruption in their day-to-day activities.
“Corruption has badly affected our economic fortunes. Our moral and spiritual fabrics as a nation have been eroded. Again, we threw away economic policies that placed us above many of our peers, and have become a consuming nation- import-dependent. Our currency has become a laughing stock in the comity of nations with consistent devaluation. Our education and health sectors have since been abandoned, and Nigeria has become a poverty headquarters of the world. It is bad leadership that brought us to this sorry state,” he said.
According to the cleric, “Such failure at leadership level is due to non-implementation or improper implementation of their visions and good policies, and those good ones given them. We cannot continue to wallow in the utter darkness indefinitely, Nigeria must be very careful.
“The point at which we are now is very precarious; we must all watch it.”
Umunna also said that one thing that baffles him is the readiness of Nigerians to obey rules, law and order in other man’s lands abroad, but without respect for the laws of our land, Nigeria.
“Whenever they travel abroad and find themselves under the watchful eyes of organised law enforcement agents, they comply because they do not want to face the consequences of disobedience. But when they return to the country, they make themselves above the law. So, you can see that it is those in leadership positions here that have destroyed the system. When the right-doing people are in authority, the masses enjoy peace and progress,” he noted.
He also alleged that there may have been deliberate attempt by the ruling class to keep the country down for certain ulterior motives.
“We do not lack good ideas. Whenever Nigerian leaders meet, they raise good ideas but form bad committees to drive/ implement the resolutions, or those selected as committee members are not given free hands to implement whatever is decided. Sometimes, wrong people are deliberately put as head of such committees to frustrate good efforts. So, as injustice and nepotism hold sway, so also corruption spreads.
“It is unfortunate that there are many corrupt people in the system. These corrupt officials tighten their grip on economic powers; so, people cut corners to survive, thereby strengthening endemic and pervasive corruption,” Umunna further said.