•Says leadership recruitment process must reward visionary, patriotic individuals
FOR Nigerians to enjoy the full benefits of good governance over a sustained period of time, renowned scholar, diplomat Professor Ibrahim Agboola Gambari, has advocated for a radical restructuring of the federal apparatus in Nigeria that devolves power to the people at the community level.
This is just as he declared that the country’s leadership recruitment process must reward visionary, patriotic, public and service-spirited individuals that can steer the country’s vast resources to yield maximum potential for the benefit of all, noting that the present format is largely influenced by money.
Prof Gambari, who was the Chief of Staff to former President Muhamadu Buhari, stated this while delivering a keynote address at the 14th Distinguished Chief Emeka Anyaoku Annual Lecture Series held in Enugu on April 29, 2025.
He stated this while proffering solutions to the myriad of problems challenging the country’s system of governance.
Gambari said the challenges facing Nigeria have clouded and overwhelmed achievements since 1999, adding that they point to the urgent necessity for Nigerians to take a step back and rethink the country’s system of governance in order to achieve a much needed national reset.
He also called for a new social construct between the state and the people that is anchored on the free and equal enjoyment of all rights by Nigerians irrespective of their ethnic, religious or political beliefs.
“A leadership recruitment process that foregrounds and rewards the visionary, the pan-Nigerian patriotic, the public and service-spirited, the self-respecting and dignified, and the self-effacing.
“A conscious and concerted retooling of the state as a guarantor of security, unity, and the ideals of equal citizenship, with a particular focus on the civil service, social services, and the security services.
“A new social bargain between the state and society anchored on the free and equal enjoyment of all rights by Nigerians irrespective of their place of birth, site of labour, or place of residence.
“The fashioning out of a new elite consensus that is grounded in the idea of a national developmentalist community whose commitment to the structural transformation of the economy and society will serve as the starting point for the organisation of politics, the exercise of power, and the evaluation of performance.
“A radical restructuring of the Nigerian federal arrangement with a view to significantly devolving power to the people at the community level where most exercise their livelihoods. This calls for a more comprehensive attention to the country’s local government system, as part of a bold effort at promoting a new bottom-up approach to governance, development, participation, and security,” he said.
Gambari also called for pro-active measures aimed at redressing the scandalous under-representation of women in national politics and governance while urging operators of the constitution in the executive, legislative and judicial arms of government to operate under the spirit of the constitution.
He added: “A complete overhaul of political parties as key actors in any governance system in order to ensure that become much more effective in playing their role in leadership recruitment and succession as against simply functioning as disposable special purpose vehicles for winning power. The rules about party formation and functioning, candidate screening and selection, and internal accountability and democracy, and the facilitation of active membership, will deserve to be revisited alongside a much more vigorous effort at taming the influence of money in national political processes.
“The urgent adoption of pro-active measures, including specific quotas if necessary, to redress the scandalous under-representation of women in national politics and governance, including elected offices at all levels. Tackling this lacuna in our journey towards good governance is a non-negotiable imperative that should be placed high on list of our national priorities. It is a matter of justice, equity, and self-respect.
“A much greater attention to constitutionalism in order to ensure that the operators of the constitution spread through the three arms of government and the three layers of our federal system operate not only under the spirit of the constitution but play by the rules of engagement embedded in it. There are no perfect constitutions anywhere in the world. It is through political education, mutual respect, and a commitment to the rule of law that constitutions are made to work for the common good and for the purposes of checking excesses in the exercise of power.”
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