Kelvin Obambon|17 April 2018
A public lecture, titled, ''The Future of Leadership and the Role of Legislature'' was yesterday held at the Senate Chamber, University of Calabar.
The public lecture which was put together by the 6th Senate of Post Graduate Students Government drew participants from the academia and the public.
The guest speaker, Rt. Hon. John Gaul Lebo, who delivered the lecture of the day, spoke exhaustively on the future of leadership in Nigeria and the role of legislature.
He posited that leaders are products of various forms of revolution that have taken place in the world, maintaining that these revolutions, to an appreciable extent, shaped the dynamics of leadership in different countries of the world.
The erudite guest speaker argued convincingly that the problem of leadership in Nigeria is however not unconnected to poorly laid down constitutional template that qualifies one to hold elective position, with minimum qualification for offices of president, governor, national and state assemblies pegged at school certificate. He took cognizance of the fact that Nigeria has over the years been ruled by people with inadequate educational credentials.
He wondered how a leader without adequate education can bring about effective governance strategies that will transform a country's economic, political and social settings.
Hon. Lebo affirmed that elections alone cannot determine the future of leadership in Nigeria; what essentially determine the future of leadership, according to him, are the people's ability to seek, identify and elect individuals with merit, knowledge, intellectual and solution architectures.
Speaking further, the guest speaker charged participants at the lecture to come up with innovative ideas with which to create and deploy technology in solving problems confronting them in their immediate environments.
Earlier, the chairman of the occasion and vice chancellor, University of Calabar, Prof. Zana Akpagu, represented by the deputy vice chancellor, academics, Prof. Uche Amalu, expressed delight for having the Speaker of the Cross River State House of Assembly in their midst.
Also speaking, the dean, school of post graduate studies, Prof. Arikpo B. Arikpo, expressed appreciation to Rt. Hon. John Gaul Lebo for setting aside time from his tight schedule to deliver such a powerful lecture.
Prof. Arikpo also commended post graduate students for their efforts in organizing event of this magnitude that attracted guests of high calibre.
He also used the occasion to explain that a lot of innovations have taken place in the graduate school since his emergence as the dean.
He thanked the vice chancellor for providing dynamic leadership in the institution which has enable some form of autonomy to be granted to the graduate school in conducting its internal affairs.
In a brief remark, the president of the 6th post graduate students senate, Mr Nwunyi Sam-Uket, explained that the present senate is facing the challenge of funding, noting that since its inauguration, no fund has been released to it. He therefore appealled to the vice chancellor to look into the issue with a view to addressing it so that the senate can carry out more laudable projects like the public lecture, which will uplift the welfare of post graduate students in the institution.
The day's event was wrapped up with the unveiling and launching of the 6th senate 2016/2017 Almanac by the dean of graduate school, Prof. Arikpo B. Arikpo, and a donation of N500,000 jointly made by the speakers of Cross River and Akwa Ibom State Houses of Assembly.
Shortly after the lecture, there was also the commissioning of graduate school organogram by Cross River Assembly Speaker, on behalf of the Speaker, Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Onofiok Luke.
Kelvin Obambon
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