The former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega has commended the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies’ (NILDS) strides towards entrenching democratic values in the country and charged the institute to continue in its mandate of vigorously facilitating and catalyzing democratic development in Nigeria.
Jega, a guest speaker, gave the charge in his presentation during the NILDS’ three-day management retreat in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, and was anchored on the necessity for regular evaluation and purposeful planning in shaping the organization’s future direction.
According to the erudite professor of Political Science, in his recommendations to the NILDS, it is fundamental for the institute to continue in its strides in democratic values in the country.
Jega lamented the failure of both the legislative and executive arms of government to bring the dividends of democracy in form of substantive socioeconomic development to satisfy the needs and aspirations of the overwhelming majority of Nigerians.
“While every four years we have routinely elected representatives into the legislative and executive arms of government, there is consensus that these elements of liberal democratic development have not yet translated into substantive socioeconomic development that satisfies the needs and aspirations of the overwhelming majority of citizens.
“In general, leadership at all tiers of the Nigerian federation has not been good; it has been essentially bad and undemocratic; characterized by bad – rather than good – democratic governance .
“Many national organizations and institutions have been afflicted/affected by this tendency towards bad governance,” he further lamented.
Jega, however, urged the institute to improve on their initial core mandate of providing professional support to the members of the Nigerian legislature in the discharge of their statutory responsibilities.
He noted that the institute has been appropriately put on the trajectory of positive transition and transformation in Nigeria:
“There can be no doubt that NILDS is one organization/ institute in contemporary Nigeria that has been appropriately put on the trajectory of positive transition and transformation,” he said.
The academic, however, urged the Director-General of the NILDS, Prof. Abubakar Sulaiman, to invest in staff development through training, retraining and reorientation programmes for all staff of the institute.
He added that staff development will help to improve the staff on work ethics and culture change amenable to good democratic governance.
“Training, retraining and reorientation programmes should be enhanced for all staff, as appropriate, for work ethics and culture change amenable to good democratic governance,” he said.
Jega also urged the senior management staff at the directorate levels of the institute to strive to acquire skills and competences to enable them to be more than mere managers but rather, good leaders in their own right.
“Senior management staff at the directorate levels should endeavour to be more than mere managers: to be good leaders in their own right.
“They should strive to acquire skills and competences for this, while the institute should assist them by availing them with opportunities for continuous learning, experience, knowledge-sharing and advanced studies,” said Jega.
The former INEC chairman also implored the director-general to, at a personal level, leave no stone unturned, and continue to be a truly, genuinely, and globally acknowledged good, transformational leader.
