Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
Former governor of the old Western State, Brigadier General Oluwole Rotimi (retd) said he has lost hope of a better Nigeria in the present generation of political leaders.
He made the disclosure in his address during the 21st Benjamin Oluwakayode Osuntokun Lecture at the Emeritus Professor Theophilus Ogunlesi Hall, University College Hospital, Ibadan, yesterday.
The lecture was delivered by Major General Akintunde Akinkunmi (retd), former Chief Medical Officer (Reserves), Royal Army Medical Corps, British Army.
Rotimi, who chaired the programme, claimed the present generation of leaders were selfish, saying: “Nigeria is not short of people who will diagnose the causes of our problems. It is in finding solutions that we are lost. It is sad that rather than stick to the message, people would rather take on the messenger. When certain messages are passed to Nigerians, we criticise the messenger; we don’t give thought to the message.
“For me, there is no hope in the present generation of political leaders. There is a Yoruba proverb, which says that a dog that would get missing would not heed the call of the hunter. A word is sufficient for the wise.
“In this country, I want to join others in re-emphasising that we need to reintroduce the teaching of History and Civic Education. During our time, our teachers, who were mostly Whites, believed that Kings College was created for leadership after exit. Therefore, civic education became one of the main subjects that were taught. They also introduced literature and taught us about Cold War. That was the pattern of our education.
“I don’t know whether civic education is still being taught at Kings College today or not. If you don’t know that there is something wrong with the country, you won’t know how to find solution. A governor cannot go away with N10million as pension, but this is happening. You professors are going to be shocked about the pension that you are going to get after retirement.
“When our children are aware of the connection between greed and corruption, it will influence their attitude. It is not grandstanding that will solve our problem. We must start solving our problems from the family.”
Also, Akinkunmi noted in the lecture that “A greedy person has an excessive desire for more than is needed or deserved, not for the greater good, but for selfish interest and at the detriment of others.
“In 2014, the United Nations office on drugs and crime estimated that between 1960 and 1999, $400 billion were lost to corruption in Nigeria. At today’s exchange rate, this amounts to N144 trillion. By comparison, the federal budget for 2020 is N10.33 billion.”