The Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, has attributed leadership deficit as one of the factors preventing Nigeria from achieving sustainable economic growth and development, as well as addressing its insecurity and other socioeconomic problems.

Speaking at the inauguration of the fourth cohort of Kashim Ibrahim Fellowship – a leadership mentorship programme for young people initiated by the Kaduna state government, Senator Lawan said the leadership gap needed to be bridged at all levels of government if the nation was to make headway.

“For us to reach the level of development that we need in our country, every part, segment and strata of the society must have a developed, deliberately focused leadership, so that what we do at the local level compliments what we do at the state level and from there, terminating at the apex – at the Federal level,” Lawan stated.

He argued that “no matter how hard we try to develop our country at the Federal level, if our states are not able to provide the kind of leadership and complementary development, then we cannot achieve the kind of goals and targets that we feel we must achieve as a country”.

The lawmaker, therefore, stressed that there is a need for government at all levels to come up with a deliberate policy to sustain leadership through mentoring young people on leadership skills and public service.

While describing the security situation in the country as alarming, Senator Lawan charged security agencies to redouble their efforts and rout out the bandits from their enclaves.

He also called for the support and collaboration of all citizens to be able to overcome the Security challenges.

The Challenge Of Good Leadership

Without a doubt, good leadership is a dire need of Africa, however, there is a dearth of good leaders, and this has left the continent in the third world.

In Nigeria, having a competent, effective and purposeful leadership that is capable of turning its highly great potentials into the real economic and political power that the nation is, has been quite elusive for over five decades since its independence.

To close this gap, Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, in 2015, set up the Kashim Ibrahim Fellowship, a leadership mentorship and training programme for young people.

The programme is named after the first Governor of Northern Nigeria, Sir Kashim Ibrahim, with members selected from across the country, based on merit.

At the inauguration of the fourth cohorts of the fellowship, Governor El Rufai said his administration’s belief in the capability of young people informed the decision to initiate the Kashim Ibrahim Fellowship conceived to help widen the pool of young persons and groom future generations of leaders. (Channels TV)

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