2019: US calls for free, fair, credible elections

Stuart Symington, United States ambassador, wants Nigeria to have free, fair and credible elections in 2019, saying it is crucial to national unity and development.
“As we approach the election, it is essential that it should be about freedom, fairness, credibility, transparency and peaceful activities. It should be about something more which is the future of Nigeria,” Symington said in Lagos at this year’s Hubert H Humphrey Fellowship Alumni Association annual seminar.
 
Nigeria needs leaders with integrity, transparent character, faithfulness and other good values to overcome current challenges, he said.
‘’I urge all who seek to lead in Nigeria to use the love of her diversity, resilience and good cultural heritage to ensure quality and good representation of the Nigerian people,” he said.
Speaking on the theme, ‘The Youth and Transformational Leadership in Nigeria’, Symington said many Nigerians are noted for resilience and can-do spirit, hence the need for mass mobilisation of eligible voters, particularly youths, to participate actively in the current political process.
 
Earlier, Mojisola Onifade, president of the group, stressed the need to invest in youth empowerment and leadership initiatives from an early age.
“The nation will develop faster in all areas of our democracy and political sphere if appropriate policies are initiated to empower youths and the populace to become champions of change from a young age at grassroots levels,” Onifade said.
Earlier in his presentation on ‘The Nigerian Youth and the Structural Imperatives of Leadership Development’ Tunji Olaopa, a professor, said the success of governance in any organised political system is determined by the quality of leadership in the government.
 
He said after 58 years of independence, Nigeria still battles with leadership and governance problems, due to poor and visionless leadership.
Olaopa, a retired federal permanent secretary and executive vice-chairman, Ibadan School of Government & Public Policy (ISGPP), said most political leaders are involved in corruption and mismanagement of public resources, leading to numerous social economic and political problems across the nation.
“Nigeria needs more than ordinary managers of national affairs. Without transformational leadership, Nigeria may continue to lag behind, while other societies speed to success and in some cases, using Nigeria’s resources.”