Nigeria Will Witness Developments When Govt Harness Potentials Of Academia, Intellectuals ; Don
FROM IKHILI EBALU, BENIN CITY
President, Edo policy Round Table , Dr. Ilenloa Igberase on Thursday said the country would witness unprecedented development, when government at all levels begins to harness the potentials of the academia and intellectuals within and in diaspora to contribute in providing quality leadership for Nigerians.
Igberase made the remark during a Colloquium and Hall of fame organised by Edo policy Roundtable in association with Mudiame University, Irrua, in honour of the Labour Party (LP) National Chairman Barr. Julius Abure with theme, ” The Contemporary Nigerian Politics: The way forward for Edo State.”
He added that the state of the nation is worrisome going by the style of politics played in the country, which apparently has relegated the academia in decision and policy making.
“The National Chairman of LP, the academia have forsaken their classrooms and joined others to honour you today in their regalia. Therefore by this Hall of Fame Award, you now have additional responsible to look towards research sponsorship, not necessarily as an individual but as an influencer of any organization you belong, to always do so , we need to obtain that commitment from you.
“Finally, I suggest to the Labour Party to urgently establish a Research and Development Institute, which will be the resource organ of the party. This is because any country or organization embarking on development that is not driven by research is only expressing mere ideas as raw materials which would most likely somersault. “he said.
According to him, All we see is destability everywhere today because politicians now give key positions to individuals as reward for supporting them.
On his part, Chancellor and Founder, Mudiame University Irrua, Prof. Sunny Eromosele said the state of infrastructure in the country is in disarray.
Eromosele, who is a Labour Party 2024 Governorship Aspirant in Edo State said, Edo state has not fared well under successive governments .
“Whether on federal or state roads, people cannot move around freely. Commuting between Auchi and the state capital takes weeks. This particular programme would have been holding at the Mudiame University in Irrua but the road is too bad that we cannot subject people to that horrible experience.
” Our farmers cannnot access their farms, and investors lack the confidence to invest. When you consider our natural resources alongside our population advantages, its clear we shouldn’t be a poor country. We should be competing on the global stage, not grappling with the issue of 80 million unemployed youths.
“It is in this context that we should appreciate forums like this that prioritizes policy formation for desired results, so that we can get involved and work to reverse the dismal state of the economy.
“As a private organization engaged in capacity development, our experiences have exposed the depth of decay in our education sector. We realized that the inadequacy of human capacity development is a key reason our economy is in a sorry state.
“Government is about the people and our citizens deserve to be integral to the policy-making process. Policies will drive our vision.” Eromosele said.