Founder African Centre for Leadership Strategy and Development (Centre LSD), Dr Otive Igbuzor, has said the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is an encumbrance to the nation’s quest for future leaders.
He stated this at the 17th graduation ceremony of the African Centre for Leadership Strategy and Development (Centre LSD) Leadership School, organised by Centre LSD in collaboration with Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) in Abuja on Saturday.
According to him Igbuzoe, Nigeria is currently experiencing scarcity of leaders especially in the political arena and the ASUU strike is making matters worse by obstructing the progress undergraduates are making to become future leaders.
“The theme of this bi-annual leadership lecture is very timely. The focus on ‘Leadership, Education and National Development in Nigeria’ cannot come at a better time. In setting up the school, we were clear that there is scarcity of leaders in all spheres of life especially in the political arena in Nigeria.
“As we move towards electing new political leaders in 2023, focus on leadership is crucial. Meanwhile, we are living at a time when public tertiary institutions have been closed for more than seven months as a result of strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) obstructing the education of young Nigerians and potential future leaders.
“It is important to point out that education goes beyond schooling. But schooling at all levels helps to achieve the purpose of education. It is generally agreed that education is valuable, that it is a right in itself, and that it is central in promoting other rights, including women’s rights and gender equality,” he said.
A Guest lecturer, Dr. Tayo Aduloju of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) decried the current economic retrogression of Nigeria which he attributed to insufficient quality of leadership. He urged the graduants to seek radical solutions to Nigeria’s problems using the different leadership skills they acquired at the Centre LSD Leadership School.
