Leadership, bane of Nigeria’s Development ― Oba Abolarin, Orangun of Oke-Ila

The Orangun of Oke-Ila, in Osun state, Oba (Dr) Adedokun Abolarin, has identified leadership as one of the great obstacles hindering Nigeria’s development saying the urgent need of Nigeria now is credible and transformational leadership.

Oba Abolarin stated this while delivering the 10th Memorial Lecture of Oba (Dr) Oladele Olasore, the late Aloko of Iloko Ijesa, organised by Joseph Ayo Babalola University (JABU) with the topic: “Navigating The Wilderness”

The monarch who advocated for the functional educational system as one of the solutions to insecurity and unemployment noted that the country has failed to prepare and build resourceful, selfless, honest and courageous future leaders.

He noted that part of the solution to insecurity and unemployment lies in a sound and functional educational system that requires the necessity for training and skills acquisition so that if the students graduate they can be on their own and be useful to society.

According to him, “We are now at a crossroads in Nigeria. Everything is in seriously short supply but the greatest is leadership. Nothing is more important than leadership, the urgent need of Nigeria now is credible and transformational leadership.

“Unfortunately, we are not consciously preparing well for our future in the area of building great leaders. Presently most of our children that should be in school are not. The endemic ASUU/Federal Government crisis must be permanently broken.

“The emphasis now must be on building our future through the building of the broken wall in our land. The centre must not be Father Christmas. The centre and the component states must exist independently of each other.

“For the sake of our future, we need resourceful, selfless, extremely brilliant, hardworking, honest and courageous leaders in the class of late Oba Oladele Olasore to move this potentially great country, Nigeria forward.”

Oba Abolarin also advocated for the involvement of traditional rulers in the governance of the domain in order to strategise on how to prevent attacks on communities as they served as the eyes and ears for security agencies and the government.

He said “When problems developed, it is rightly expected that all renowned traditional rulers who are guardians of communal ideas, values and traditions would rise to such challenges to handle and resolve such situations.

“This is largely due to the fact that the legitimacy of the traditional institution is not reliant on the symbols of authority introduced by modernization. Instead, they commanded respect and obedience from their subjects and are regarded in high esteem because they were accountable and attentive to their people’s needs.

“They are successful in governance due to the multi-stakeholder leadership strategies they adopt like the late Oba Olasore did whist alive”

He said the late monarch of Iloko gave Nigeria and his people purposeful leadership and made positive impacts, saying “we need capable hands that are ready to navigate the wilderness, people who are ready to sincerely serve the people of Nigeria.

“We want leaders who understood and appreciate that togetherness is better and leaders who are ready to always eat last, we need leaders like Nehemiah, who are ready to build the broken walls in our land.”

The Acting Vice-Chancellor of JABU, Prof. Kehinde Eniola, said the annual lecture became imperative because of the contribution of the late monarch to the development of education in JABU and the country.

He said “the late prominent monarch was a great man of many parts, a renowned banker and educationist who was an astute, amiable and resourceful nationalist who was a God-fearing leader of leaders.

“He passionately believed in qualitative educational, committed materials and made sacrifices in that area. He was an entrepreneur who was committed to nation-building, a patriotic Nigerian who demonstrated excellent leadership qualities,”

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