The President of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Dr Ike Neliaku, has called on Nigerian leaders to embrace and display the core values of honesty, integrity and selflessness in their dealings for the betterment of the country and humanity in general.
Neliaku, who was represented by the NIPR Vice President, Prof. Emmanuel Dandaura, gave the charge during the 2024 Corporate Charisma Conference of the Institute of Personality Development and Customer Relationship Management (IPDCRM), held at the Lead City University, Ibadan.
The programme had the theme “Investment in Leadership Education and Personality Development: A Valuable Asset, Timely Rescue Anchor, in a Depressed Economy.”
Speaking on the topic: “Building Leadership and Personality Development for Economic Recovery”, the NIPR President said that human beings provide leadership at various levels, be it at the level of family, society or organisation.
“Since we don’t control what happens in life, we are exposed to different experiences, different happenings, and that means we have a system where we will continuously monitor what is happening.
“We train ourselves by acquiring new skills with which we need to adapt to those happenings. And technology is also on the increase and it is changing in minutes. That alone has changed the dynamics of how we exist as leaders; and how we impact our followers.
“Learning is so important. We must learn new things; we must also unlearn those things we used to do because we must drop certain habits that will no longer fit into the new culture. And you must re-learn every day. It is very important, particularly if you must survive in this present economy.
“Even at the traditional and African levels, if we look at attributes that define a leader, we find that there are some values that are fundamental. These are issues of integrity; issues of honesty; issues of defending one’s family name and honour so that nothing stains the name. Those are values that define leadership in Africa, and they are still relevant. So, we must try to regain those “In the Nation’s political leadership, unfortunately, those core leadership values are missing. A friend of mine said the First Republic was better than the Second Republic, and that we lost it completely when we moved to the Third Republic.
“In the Second Republic, we had some leaders like Abubakar Rimi, and Jim Nwobodo defending their actions when the Military struck.
“But in the Third Republic, we had a lot of drama where people could not account for their actions. They jumped out of Police vehicles when they were under arrest. They were taken to the court with stretchers and all sorts. Those were the signs that the culture of honour had departed from us.
“Our political class must begin to learn those values that are fundamental to our various communities in terms of leadership. Our ethical consciousness and leadership norms, honesty and honour don’t change, and so our leaders must imbibe them to defend their family names. The more our politicians imbibe these core values, the better for our country and indeed, humanity in general,” Dandaruwa said.
Speaking, the President of the body, Dr Ayobami Owolabi, harped on the need for leadership education and personality development.
The Special Adviser on International Cooperation to President Bola Tinubu, Mr Dapo Oyewàle, also stressed the issue of competent leadership, saying that it is the thing across the African continent and indeed the world over.
While charging the youths to be alive to their personality development, investing their time, talent, and intelligence in building their capacity to contribute meaningfully to society, Oyewole commended the conference organisers, saying that the topic was timely and expedient for the country.
In attendance also were other eminent t personalities including the Chairman, Board of Trustees of the IPDCRM, Prof. Jide Owoeye, the Vice Chancellor of Lead City University, Prof. Kabiru Adeyemo; Dr Oyebola Ayeni (Registrar, Lead City University); as well as, many other discussants.
The Guardian
