Prof. Eghosa Osaghae, Director General(DG), Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), who was the Keynote Speaker at the Dr. Osahon Enabulele Foundation(DOEF) official launch and colloquium at the main campus of the University of Benin, on Wednesday, stated that the solutions to the nation’s problems reside within Nigerians and they must not look elsewhere but rather should look inwards and address them. He stressed that leadership problem is not peculiar to Nigeria alone but universal.
In his own contribution the former Director General of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Prof. Tonnie Iredia, Nigeria is in dire need of an impartial electoral umpire to right the wrongs in the nation’s electoral system.
Iredia asserted that a single faulty electoral process can ruin the chance of supposedly winner of an election even before the main election proper.
He suggested that the way out from the electoral quagmire is for “all general elections in Nigeria to be held the same day. These scattered elections are not helpful. We have seen that they are not helpful. It is time to depart from analogue, obsolete elections. If Ghana, Kenya, South Africa can do it, why can’t Nigeria do the same?
“It is time to find a situation where before somebody is sworn-in, election disputes have been settled. If you don’t do that, you are asking the person who won to use the state money to prosecute his election petition.”
He affirmed that Nigeria can’t get its electoral processes right when those that are saddled with the responsibility to man the process are grossly soaked in partisan politics.
The founder and Director General (DG) of the foundation, Dr. Osahon Enabulele, former President of the World Medical Association (WMA), said that most Nigerians have been plunged into a miasma of hopelessness and unfathomable depths of disillusionment, such that the first question an average Nigerian wants to ask when confronted with some life situations is “Why am I still in Nigeria? Why don’t I japa? But can everyone japa?”
Enabulele said that “to address and reverse the above global, regional, national, and subnational challenges requires not a lamentation or sycophantic choir but conscious commitment to progressive reforms by empowered citizens.”
On the foundation, Enabulele disclosed his intention to pursue his vision through the empowerment of citizens, particularly vulnerable groups, by promoting initiatives for leadership excellence and good governance, as well as human capital development, including mentorship, access to quality healthcare and education, fostering of community development through targeted programmes, and empowerment of young people to rise above their limitations and achieve their dreams.
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