Nigeria At 60: "Deliver Dividends of Democracy to the People" - Prof Ibe Urges Nigerian Leaders

Speaking while interacting with journalists recently in his country home at Amaokwe Achara Uturu, the university don who also doubles as the chairman of Committee of Proprietors of Private Universities in Nigeria, contended that provision of critical social infrastructure by leadership in all spheres of governance in Nigeria will stem the alarming rate of restiveness and agitations in the country.

According to Prof Ibe, As we commemorate the 60th anniversary of the birth of our nation, I want to wish Nigeria our motherland a prosperous diamond independence anniversary. Let me however use the opportunity of the anniversary to charge our political leaders to recommit themselves to the task of addressing the huge infrastructural deficiency currently plaguing the nation as a means of reducing the escalating degree of restiveness.

Stressing that the level of infrastructural deployment directly impacts on the quality of life provided to the citizenry, he encouraged leaders to justify the number of years chronologically credited to Nigeria with equal amount of social amenities to assuage frail nerves. In his words, Benefitting from many years of consultancy to multinational agencies and personal interactions with leaders across the globe, I know that a development minded leadership automatically secures the peoples buy-in. Nigerian leaders should therefore work to secure public acceptance and willing participation in the act of governance through the delivery of impactful dividends of democracy.

In conclusion, he asserted that given the enormous potentials of Nigeria, especially in the Human Resource sector and against the backdrop of the current deployment of technology and virtual platforms for knowledge transfer, the nation at sixty definitely has immense potentials going forward.