Former Kadpoly Rector Dr Yakubu wants selfless leadership revitalized in NorthAs NYC begs militants to shield sword
(L-R Dr. Yakubu been presented with Epitome of Leadership award plaque by Speaker Muhammed of NYC)
//Shola Ojo, Kaduna//
Former Rector, Kaduna Polytechnic, Engr (Dr) Nuru Yakubu has said the North can still rediscovered itself if its leaders can give their youths the kind of leadership they enjoyed from their leaders then.
The former Executive Secretary, National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and former Commissioner in charge of Operation, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), lamented that the type of leadership the region has in the 1960s has left it, adding that many of those that posed as leaders today lack basic ingredient of leadership the region did experienced long ago which were integrity and selflessness.
Dr. Yakubu, who stated this yesterday in Kaduna shortly after been presented with Epitome of Leadership award by Northern Youth Council (NYC), expressed optimism that the serious youths in the region will revamp quality leadership through hardworking, diligence, focus, trust and integrity though frowned at current wide margin between Northern and Southern youths in term of entrepreneurial development based on latest analysis of Central Bank of Nigeria.
According to him, “the North can still rediscovered itself. The truth is that the type of leadership we had in the 60s has gone. The generation of youth we have today will revamp quality leadership in the region. I mean the youths are the hope of the North and even the country and we need to support them in anyway we can.
“Then we had such a quality leadership that treat everyone equally without minding religion, tribal, ethnicity or even political differences. It was one North. No discrimination. Everything was apportioned based on the needs meritorious ground. You don’t have to be a child of very important person or know somebody that knows somebody.
“The basic ingredient then was hardworking, diligence and honesty. First, be honest to your God because even if you can deceive your fellow men, you cannot deceive God. So, if we can get our youths together and give them a little push that several of them need just the way our elders supported us then, then things will fall back in line.
“Let me tell you that all the seven years that I spent for my first and second degrees in the United Kingdom was on the bills if our elders then. My parents didn’t spend a dime. I never knew them and they did not know me but based on outstanding performance in our exams then, 25 of us were nominated and they eventually sent seven of us to UK for studies. These were the kind of elders we had then. None of us is a child of any big man. So let other elders from here join the few of us to give our youth the little push they required to save the region.”, he said.
Earlier, Chairman, Award Committee and Vice President 2 of NYC, Comrade Abdulsalam Mohammed said, the award was to further encourage the recipient to do more in touching lives especially those of the needy, describing has philanthropist and ‘lifter of the downtrodden’.
He however used the event to appealed to his fellow youths in other parts of the country with particular reference to the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), Ijaw Youth Congress, IPOB, MASSOB to embrace peace, warning that the attendant implications of addressing issues violently are quite much more than any personal gain therein.
He said, “we in NYC are calling on our brothers to please embrace peace. When we continue destroying national asset, we still spend money to fix whatever been destroyed forgetting that such money would have been invested in profitable developmental project in the region.
“If they felt they have been shortchanged by their leaders, they should let us know and then we know we have to join them to embark on that course. I want them to know that we also have our security challenge here including herdsmen attacks and we have been engaging stakeholders to nip the menace in the bud rather than resolve to violence. Violence can never bring peace. It cannot bring desired development but can only bring backwardness”.