Nigeria is a country blessed in all ramifications but we continue to struggle with getting the transformational leadership that can ensure human capital and economic development. It can be said that the most critical challenge confronting Nigeria is leadership.
The present and past leaders of Nigeria seem to have failed to provide quality leadership capable of addressing the numerous challenges confronting the country. These leadership challenges are evidenced in political, social and economic instability and the prevalence of ethnic, communal and religious crises, which have bedeviled Nigerian socio-economic development.
Nigerian citizens are faced with everyday anxieties due to the unprecedented rise in insecurity. Kidnappings, massacre and bribery have permeated all cadres in the country and present a case for structural and administrative reformation. Corruption and political bickering for personal interests continue to pervade Nigeria’s political and social systems.
The consequences of corruption are evident in Nigeria’s economic performance and the high increase in the cost of living and poverty. The high unemployment rates, the ever-widening gaps between the rich and poor and the declining foreign direct inflows pose a threat to economic growth.
At the international level, individual and institutional corruption tarnishes Nigeria’s image, and the caution exercised by foreign nationals in business transactions creates a case for transformational leadership.
The reverberation effects of the failure of leadership, corruption and bad governance are visible and being felt across all sectors and segment of the Nigerian society. Leadership and good governance are crucial to realizing any giant stride taken in pursuit of development anywhere in the world, Nigeria is not an exception.
To tackle the challenges of leadership that bedevils our country, Nigeria needs sound ethical leadership that is rooted in respect, service, justice, honesty and community. Leaders who place fairness at the center of decision making, including the challenging task of being fair to individuals as well as to the common interest of the community they serve.
Nigeria deserves transformational leadership that will invoke change from within, a leader that puts people first while being a visionary force that will reinvigorate the citizenry by empowering all Nigerians.
Nigerians must strive to elect leaders that have good moral conduct and ethical responsibility to enable them to attend to the demands, concerns, needs, and problems of the citizens in the country; transformational leaders that have the uncanny ability to address the fundamental reasons for agitations by listening, understanding, removing prejudices, and allowing for open, national dialogues, without preconditions, but with the goal to build a cohesive, united, fair, just and equitable nation for all.
The 28th Nigerian Economic Summit (#NES28) with the theme “2023 and Beyond: Priorities for Shared Prosperity” scheduled to hold on the 14th and 15th of November, 2022 seeks to galvanize stakeholders to deliberate on an actionable framework for transformative political leadership and effective governance, to facilitate economic growth and nation building.
NES #28 presents the best opportunity for stakeholders to agree on a consensus on the national and sub-national imperatives for economic security, social justice, conscientious governance, political stability and environmental sustainability. The summit hopes to discern the imperatives for harnessing Nigeria’s latent human capital wealth as a means of securing our collective future by identifying critical factors for effective policy implementation for sustained economic growth.
NES28 will also highlight stakeholder actions needed to eliminate barriers to inclusive economic growth and development; Identify pragmatic initiatives to elicit economic leadership at the subnational levels, by adopting a “Bottom Up” approach to economic growth and development and articulate the economic agenda for the incoming leaders in 2023 and beyond.
The public-private dialogue platform Nigerian Economic Summit (NES#1) was held from February 18-20, 1993. Participants at NES#1 concluded that it is imperative for the private sector to continuously dialogue and cooperate with the public sector.
Over the past 27 years, national and global policymakers and business leaders have acknowledged that the annual NES is the premier platform for public-private dialogue in Nigeria.
