AWKA — The 10th Chief Emeka Anyaoku Lecture Series on Good Governance, which was held at the Prof. Dora Akuyili Women Development Centre was well attended.
The event attracted some of the brightest Nigerians including Chief Emeka Anyaoku who served as Commonwealth’s Secretary-General for two decades, Donald Duke, a former governor of Cross River State who changed the face of governance in Cross River, Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, a global leader and former Deputy Governor of Nigeria’s apex bank as well as 2023 presidential hopeful was the guest speaker at the event. Sen. Ben Bruce, who, along with Prof. Eghagha were also guests speakers, among other distinguished guests. Anambra state governor, Chief Willie Obiano, and his wife, Ebelechukwu Obiano were also in attendance.
Chief Emeka Anyaoku Lecture Series on Good Governance is hosted annually by the government of Anambra state. However, this year’s event was merged with a book presentation and the focus was “Leadership and Good Governance in Nigeria”.
Prof. Kingsley Moghalu spoke extensively on the subject of “Leadership and Nigeria’s Development Challenge”, in which he clearly identified three leadership conundrums in Nigeria which are as follows; us vs them, power vs accountability, and then loyalty vs competence. Moghalu then went further to explain that we cannot have good governance without real leadership because the link between leadership and governance cannot disappear on account of Nigeria’s distorted political order. Specifically, Moghalu regretted that governance has eluded Nigerians in the past five decades. “We have spent five decades including our 22 years of democracy since 1999 chasing shadows because we have failed or neglected to focus on the question of leadership”, he said.
The audience was also reminded that “effective governance requires more than good intentions”. In the final analysis, Prof. Moghalu recommended some of the following solutions to the conundrum; that leadership selection should become the focus of political parties for a politics that aims for governance. Secondly, increased political education of citizens, which according to him has enormous benefit for the good of the country. Third, enhanced role of non-partisan elders. Then, he also recommended mandatory training on leadership and governance for public office holders. Finally, he echoed the need for constitution re-engineering.
The event came to a good end after long and fruitful cross-pollination of ideas on good governance delivery, which it is expected that political players will imbibe as a viable template for political governance in Nigeria.
He is a Technical Assistant to Governor Willie Obiano’s Special Adviser on Legislative Matters, whoonce was a Special Adviser to a former Deputy Speaker of Anambra State House of Assembly. Ebuka is a second class upper division graduate of Political Science from University of Calabar, Calabar Nigeria and holds a Masters Degree in Political Science with specialization in Government and Development Studies, from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka Nigeria
