By Onyewuchi Ojinnaka
The Chief Executive Officer of SME Media Limited and former Managing Director of Independent Newspapers Limited, Mr Ted Iwere, on Tuesday, October 15, said that Nigerians need national dialogue to discuss their challenges.
The veteran journalist added that using Nigeria’s constitution as basis for assessing the country’s leaders, “It can easily be said that the 1999 constitution has been honoured more in principle rather than practice.”
Mr Iwere stated this view as a discussant at the 2019 TheNiche lecture with the theme, “Business and Accountable Governance in Nigeria: The Obligations of Leadership.”
Professor Anya O. Anya was the guest speaker at the event which took place at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Victoria Island Lagos.
Mr Iwere further said said that Nigeria has a cacophony of voices and no coherence, stressing that what was playing out in the political arena was like playing a game of football without a goal post with everybody playing in different directions aimlessly.
“We are singing from different hymnbooks with different tunes. Nigeria needs national dialogue to discuss our challenges and proffer generally acceptable solutions, he said.”
On the social circle, Mr Iwere noted that things were all out of place, as law and order were no longer observed.
“We are not interested in the rule of law, rather we follow the rule of man”
Speaking on the economy, he said the population was growing at three per cent while the economy was growing at two per cent, and concluded that was a recipe for disaster.