A former Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, has decried the lack of democratic dividends to Nigerians in the 17 years of the Fourth Republic, which started in May 1999.
Gambari, who was the Minister of External Affairs between 1984 and 1985, and currently the Chancellor, Kwara State University, Malete, spoke at the 4th convocation of the university on Saturday.
One thousand one hundred and fifty-nine graduands received different categories of first degrees during the convocation.
Twenty-three of them bagged first class honours; 419, second class honours, (upper division); 528, second class lower; and 189, third class honours.
KWASU also graduated the first set of students from the College of Engineering and Technology.
“In the 17 years, since the emergence of the Fourth Republic, Nigerians have strived to build their country into Africa’s and one of the world’s biggest democracies.
“However, there has been a deficit of delivery, which, in popular parlance, is referred to as the absence of democratic dividends,” he said.
Gambari said it was needful to grow the national economy and generate jobs for young Nigerians.
He stated that as President Muhammadu Buhari pursued his agenda of change, close attention should be paid to measures that would need to be taken to overcome grinding poverty and want among Nigerians.
He added that the government should also narrow the growing inequality that was increasingly defining the national landscape and invest in the public provisioning of accessible and quality educational and health services.
Gambari, the former Under Secretary-General of the United Nations for the Department of Political Affairs, recalled that Buhari’s administration was elected on the promise of an agenda for change.
He argued that if this agenda was to be sustainable, it should not depend on one person.
The ex-minister added that the government must endeavour to open a new chapter in national life that would represent both a clean break from the past and the opening of a new gateway into the future.
He stated that personalities, however well meaning, must be made to learn to subordinate themselves to institutions.
The former UN chief believed that there should be a meaningful connect between the leaders and citizens, which would serve as a basis for the collective audit of the performance of those entrusted with national destiny.
KWASU’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. AbdulRasheed Na’Allah, said the university made history as the first university in Nigeria to be accredited by the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria to run a degree programme in Aeronautic and Astronautic Engineering.
“By this action, KWASU has put Nigeria on the map as a nation where aerospace engineering scholarship is taught at the university level,” he said.
The Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, who was represented by his deputy, Mr. Peter Kisira, called for collaborative efforts to build Nigeria and Kwara State in particular.
He admonished the graduands to be good ambassadors of KWASU by being responsible members of the society.
(Today.ng)
