27/05/2022
Internationally renowned Professor and Deputy Global Leader of EJADE Movement endorses Atiku Abubakar for President of Nigeria 2023.
A decadent society, characterised by kidnapping, banditry, ritual killings, youth misguidedness, and a failing educational system/structure are two things directly proportional. The nexus of the two is saliently disturbing and the attendant consequences have produced perilous impacts on the economy. A revival of the Nigerian educational sector, from the primary up till tertiary level may be a daunting task, but must be a foremost target of Atiku Abubakar’s government, upon ascending the post of the president. Effecting a change in the Nigeria polity starts with unlearning, re-educating, and educating the Nigerian minds with meaningful, progressive, and a synergy of local ground realities with global trends – globalisation of education system and structure.
Several decades ago, the Nigerian epistemic community and campuses hosted world intelligentsia, it was a melting pot of intellectuals, who do not only illuminated Nigeria with their enlightened minds, but equally gathered and gained enormous local knowledge from the Nigerian scholars. Once upon a time, amongst the educational destinations, for those seeking quality education, was Nigeria. I know and I have read factual and revealing stories of academics whose epistemic fame were nurtured in Nigeria.
For all the noise that may have punctuated the Nigeria polity, reviving the Nigeria academic system and structure may be the right solution to all of our problems. The presidency of Atiku Abubakar should embrace the challenge and see it through to fruition. With a formidable educational system, Atiku’s Nigeria will have smart and brilliant minds to produce knowledge that will translate into reasonable, effective, pragmatic and strategic policies. A vibrant educational system will revert the increasing waste Nigeria has incurred with regards to its human resources – what the country needs is not a population growth of nonentity, but a learned, resourceful, industrious, empowered youth, having the dexterity to catalyse socioeconomic and political change within and becoming transactionable resources abroad.
I ask myself, in a private capacity, if Atiku can demonstrate high degree of social responsibility by founding the American University of Nigeria (AUN) - the first of its kind in Sub-Sahara Africa, providing world class pedagogy, one requires no hard logic to fathom that similar degree of obligation will/can be replicated in the Nigerian public sector, when Atiku becomes the president.
An economy is measured not by its gigantic wastefulness, but through a quantum of productivity associated with its functional public sector in general and private sector in particular. It goes without saying that the pathetic state of Nigerian public sector has not seen any fundamental developmental trajectory, since the last several years. Better service provision has always been the cardinal responsibility of the state, but in a sector like ours, punctuated with many lacunas, revamping the public sector and privatisation of the non-functional sector should rather be the best of option. Who else can set Nigeria on the part of a realistic privatisation route – the right name one can muster is Atiku Abubakar, not because of his profile as a businessman, but by virtue of been the Chairman of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) during the Obasanjo civilian administration. Despite all unverifiable and refuted allegations of ‘office misuse and cronyism’, the unprejudiced and sagacious Nigerian minds should at best extend the Atiku’s chairmanship some credits for the policies that saw the economy grew by 6%, paved way for job creation, and above all, added a feather in Obasanjo administration’s cap.
These referential achievements of the Atiku-led NCP precipitated the notion of a successful Obasanjo government, which transcends pragmatic foreign policy, but also include a buoyant economy. Only the weak minds may not be able to comprehend Atiku as a living testimony, bestowed with the foresightedness and dexterity to manage a colossal economy like the Nigerian economy (public) and conceive Africa's first development university - a true sense of privatisation, especially of higher education. Letting Atiku Abubakar (as the president) steer the country towards the shore of growth and development will be the right option if not the best decision every Nigerian with a progressive mind must embrace.
My 50 cents for the prospective president. The civil bureaucracy, security agencies – most especially the army, and workers – labour force are the three cardinal elements of a state. As a true leader which you are, you must demonstrate good governance – transparency, accountability and responsibility in words and in actions towards these three. Create an enabling climate for all three to perform optimally, their capacity and sense of justice – responsibility will manifest and be gauged, if and when your government takes meritocracy cardinally seriously. In commemorating the recent past Labour Day, your heart-warming speech may be welcomed, but must grow beyond a lip service – it must mature and translate into a visible, concrete, quantifiable, and implementable policies. The Nigerian labour force will hold you accountable now and as you ascend to the highest seat in the country.
Professor Najimdeen Bakare.
