Nigerian professor of political economy and management, Patrick Utomi, has faulted Nigerians for praising governors, who tile roads.
He lamented that despite the accolades given to the Nigerian government during the construction of Lagos-Ibadan Expressways, the highway has become ‘embarrassing’.
The business and political guru wondered why Nigerians based their basis for measuring the performance of governors and presidents on tiling of roads.
He said the public officers could only be given appraisal based on the quality of the roads constructed.
Pat Utomi spoke during a forum organised by Poise Nigeria for Directors and top management staff in Lagos on Thursday.
He said, “A governor is not very successful because he tiles roads, people tends to get excited because we don’t have enough roads tiled. When a governor tiles some roads which is just a matter of signing a contract with Julius Berger, people begin to get excited and shout. But few years down the line, the roads will be washed away and it won’t be replaced.
“Lagos-Ibadan Expressways is one of the finest highways 25-years ago, today it is one of the most of the embarrassing highway. Though works have started on it but… Tiling a road is a good thing but it is just one small by-product of effective leadership.”
Pat-Utomi, also expressed dissatisfaction that Nigeria was losing its place of pride in maintenance of culture.
“Leadership takes place at so many levels – work, religious centers, and local government and all the way up to leadership at the federal level. There is a general challenge in our country because we unfortunately have experience a collapse of culture. The challenge of values surrounds Nigeria at large. Leadership effectiveness is how leaders affect culture,” he added.
Source: Daily Times
