Vera Wisdom-Bassey
Immediate former director and Chief Executive Officer of the Kenya School of Law, Prof. Patrick Lumumba, has said Nigeria needs strong men and strong institutions to pilot its affairs before democracy could thrive in the country.
Lumumba, who was a guest speaker at a lecture with the theme: “Strong men vs strong institutions: Strengthening democracy in Africa,” at Agip Hall, Lagos, said the citizens should be involved in democracy.
“Democracy is the involvement of the people in the decision-making and when such is not there, it is no more democracy.
“People should be involved in decision-making and be carried along when deciding on what goes on in the country. If this is not there, then there is no democracy,” he said.
Also, Dr. Joe Abah, one of the discussants and DAI country director for Nigeria, said it was not a fallacy that there were demons in Aso Rock, which he alleged he had seen.
He listed the demons’ names to include lust for power, lust for money and loss of sense of patriotism.
These three, he said, have been bedevilling the country’s democracy.
Fola Arthur-Worrey called on governments at all levels to cut down on overseas trips and irrelevant government expenditure so that money saved could be put else where to develop the country.