Nigeria’ President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been urged to be a serving leader and write his name in the sand of time in Nigeria’s history.
Leaders in the National Assembly, State Governors and others in different levels of authority were also called upon to change their mentality of leadership to servant leadership style.
The Chairman of the Sam Momah Foundation, an Associate Professor University of Mississippi Medical Center, Tobe Momah, made the appeal in Abuja during the 2nd Sam Momah Annual Lecture Series with the theme : The Temple of Justice in Nigeria: Scarred Or Sacred
According to Professor Momah,”Nigeria leaders need to change their mentality they are not lords, we have a leadership in Nigeria that see themselves as lords not as servants and learners , they need to sit with the people they govern and see how they can serve them”
“If our leaders change that mentality we will see the best part of President Bola Tinubu’s regime, we cannot afford to make thesame mistakes we made over the last 23years this is a great opportunity for President BolaTinubu to put his name in the golden letters of Nigerian History but he will have stop lording it over people and start serving the electorates “
Nigeria’s Judicial System
Speaking on the Nigerian Judicial System, Professor Momah said the lecture was to challenge the nation’s judicial system to know where the country had gotten it wrong and to discuss how the Nigerian judicial system has metamorphosised between the 1950s and now .
“The lecture wanted to ask questions on when the judges were highly looked up to as highly respected and as sacrosanct in their verdicts”
“The Temple of Justice in Nigeria was asking questions on the activities of our judicial officers asking if they are scarred to implement the laws or do they look at themselves as sacred cows that nobody can do anything to hurt them.”
“The Judicial system my Father envisaged for Nigeria was the one that was equitable and egalitarian that mean everyone had access to it”
The President Nigeria Bar Association, Yakubu Maikyau, tasked Nigerians to be circumspect in their response to court judgements adding that absence of the judiciary in Nigeria will amount to absence of the nation.
“Attempts have been made to give us statistics of those found culpable on allegations of judicial corruption and this maybe about less than 1percent of the judges we have in this country and they have either had this allegations against them or have been convicted”
“Like I said, absent the judiciary in this country you will not have a nation today as the perception may be unless we get measured in the way we speak ,also the only way you can come to this conclusion is to pass through this same civil process of law”
“Judges don’t go to the field but give judgement on what they presented to them and because of the way we have shaped the mind of Nigerians it is very easy for anyone to take a deceptive process to court loose the case on the basis. That is why we must be circumspect, we must be measured in the way Nigerians talk about the temple of justice,” Maikyau stated.
Participants on common ground affirmed that the Nigerian judiciary is scarred and still sacred.
The Keynote Speaker of the event, Ms. Ayo Obe, in her lecture on theme of the event identified deliberate campaign to denigrate the Nigerian judiciary.
Obe noted that the event was apt following the need to reflect on the state of judicial system and further strengthen foundation of justice in Nigeria.
Sam Momah Foundation In 5 Years
The Chairman of the Sam Momah Foundation, Professor Momah in his opening remarks said the goal of setting up the foundation was to improve the reading culture of Nigerians.
“Our goal as a foundation is to see how to improve Nigerians reading culture ,we felt the issues on electoral tribunals was also a topic to discuss in this annual lecture series”
“We have been building big rooms across Nigeria, places where people can read in an ambient environment, we are building one in Unversity of Lagos ,we have one in Abuja and also in Uiversity of Nigeria Nsukka.”
Lessons on Retirement
On the book launched, Professor Momah said that the foundation launched a book General and a Gentle man in the last 20years.
According to him, the book was writtent to change narrative about retirement in Nigeria.
“The book on the General and a gentle man in the last 20years. We write the book to challenge Nigerians in the sense that when people retire they don’t need to just sit at home and grow old at home, they can simply make an investment that can change the lives of people around them.”
He said book is an introduction to retirement, citing his father who retired at the age of 48 and he began his business, employing 300 people.
He urged Nigerians not to sit at home after retirement, as they could still be productive and even invest in the lives of people around them.
Lateefah Ibrahim
