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This morning, I will be doing a keynote thread from @DrJoeAbah's inaugural lecture titled: TAKING KADUNA FROM GOOD TO GREAT: THE CHALLENGE OF PERSONAL EXAMPLE
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The Kaduna Inauguration Lecture of 2015 was delivered by the late, great Prof. Pius Adesanmi. His address was titled: “El Rufai and the Challenge of Building Kaduna in a Day With One Kobo.” He concluded his address with the words “To be continued.”
The Kaduna Inauguration Lecture of 2015 was delivered by the late, great Prof. Pius Adesanmi. His address was titled: “El Rufai and the Challenge of Building Kaduna in a Day With One Kobo.” He concluded his address with the words “To be continued.”
Before we continue, may I please seek the indulgence of His Excellency the Governor of Kaduna State for us all to rise and observe a moment’s silence in honour of the memory of Professor Pius Adebola Adesanmi.
May his soul rest in peace!
May his soul rest in peace!
Nigerians are tired of potential that never seems to translate into tangible improvements in the lives of citizens.. They want their potential realized now, especially as other countries with less resources are beginning to realise theirs. This, I believe, is what Prof. Adesanmi
was trying to convey in his inimitable style.
...You are really a citizen of where you live and pay your taxes. It is the policy of that environment that directly affects your daily life. I applaud Governor el-Rufai for his courage in putting this policy in place and hope that it is carried into a review of the Constitution
Similar to the concept of Equal Citizenship is the notion that anybody who can be of value should be invited to contribute the value that they have in order to build society, regardless of where they come from. That is why developed nations... have immigration schemes
A lot has been achieved in Kaduna over the last 4 years. In the area of Education, a Primary School Feeding Programme is in place and there is a Free Basic Education Policy.
There have been reforms on Teacher Quality, including a 30% salary increase for teachers in the rural areas and a 28% increase in the salary of teachers in urban areas.
Before the salary increases were implemented, about 22,000 unqualified teachers were disengaged and replaced with better-qualified ones. I remember personally coming under attack for supporting this initiative.
As usual, Nigerians raised the emotive issue of job losses and the hardship that the disengagement will cause to the families of those disengaged. Nobody worried about the hardship and lack of employability that substandard education is causing to the children, their families and
the society at large. I found it incredulous that anyone believed that we should be teaching primary school teachers how to read and write!
In the area of Economic Development, Kaduna ranked first in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business rankings with regards to Registering a Property and Enforcing Contracts.
Despite the formation of a Peace Commission, security remains a challenge, with killings in various parts of the state. A number of communities were attacked by bandits and, at various times, the Kaduna to Abuja road became one of the most dangerous roads in the country...
In Jim Collins’s book “Good to Great”, he discussed several ingredients that are necessary to move an organisation is to move from being a good organization to a great organization. Of course, he was writing about private sector organisations but
many lessons from his book are also applicable to the public sector. We can summarise Collins’s 300-page book by saying that it calls for Discipline. Disciplined People, Disciplined Thought and Disciplined Action.
Discipline is therefore a key attribute in driving an organization from good to great.
The Chairman of my ‘Good Governance’ subcommittee is Hon. Justice Paul Onumajulu, former Chief Justice of Imo State, a cerebral, wise, jovial but firm man. In a discussion with him on leadership, he proposed that a leader must score 6 Credits & one ‘F’ if he wants to be great
To take a society from good to great then, the challenge of personal example which is the hallmark of true leadership demands Discipline, Capacity, Capability, Credibility, Courage, Conscience, Consistency, Compassion, Circumspection, Communication and Fear of God....
On the one hand, I had said that a leader that wants to lead a society to greatness must have the courage to take tough decisions. On the other hand, I have also said that leader must be circumspect around certain issues & show compassion, and that being right is often not enough
God bless Kaduna State. God bless Nigeria. Thank you.
JOE ABAH, PHD.
JOE ABAH, PHD.
