The Chairman, Governing Board of the Nigerian Prize for Leadership, NPL, Prof. Anya O. Anya, has urged the Federal Government to declare December 12 of every year as a National Leadership Day.
Mr Anya made the call on Tuesday in Abuja during the investiture of a former Executive Secretary of TETFund, Prof. Suleiman Bogoro who won the 2021 Nigeria Prize for Leadership.
The NPL board chairman noted that the recognition would demonstrate the government’s disposition to redefine the character of leadership in Nigeria.
He said: “Since 2020 we have set aside the 12th of December each year to call attention to the importance of effective leadership in building our nation.
“This is the third edition of this initiative and we can confirm that the value has been significant.
“We will explore way forward on how we will amplify this modest effort into a national movement that will with time redefine Nigeria as a symbol of right values, honesty and integrity, a truly pan-Nigerian initiative,” Mr Anya added.
Speaking on the award, Mr Anya said that the NPL was a product of vision and commitment of some eminent Nigerians was determined to chart a new course aimed at identifying, and reinventing new culture of leadership in the country.
The new culture, he said, would be driven by values and a new mindset anchored on integrity and the pursuit of excellence ready to confront the challenges of the twenty-first century.
“Nigeria is currently going through a challenging period that will bring with it the rebirth of our nation.
“The Nigerian Prize for Leadership believes that these pains will produce a new generation of Nigerians that will deliver a new Nigeria.
“While it is important to celebrate excellence in leadership, it is equally important, if not more important to invest time and resources to raise a strong and credible successor generation of leaders for our nation, on a sustainable basis and across different sectors of our society.
“Our mission is to institute and project a truly Nigerian leadership prize that will inspire Nigerians to lead a life larger than self, driven by the interest of community, nation and humanity.
“It is our hope that it will grow to be the highest, most reliable, and prestigious single leadership prize in Nigeria shorn of politics, ethnicity and religious bias,” Mr Anya said.
On his part, Dr Ike Neliaku, Executive Secretary of the NPL Governing Board, said nine leadership barometers were used to select the winner.
“The NPL did a very rigorous work using the nine leadership barometers that is used to measure performance in leadership. Before now there was nothing like that because awards are given to people based on whatever is their government doing.
“But we said that leaders must be measured and these barometers were developed by the best brains in Nigeria led by the late Prof. Ayo Ibidapo Obe and so many other prominent Nigerians.
“So, the measurement that was deployed was based on barometers of vision, creativity and innovation, competence, character, sacrifice, impact on society, governance, role modelling and mentoring as well as incusivity and diversity,” Mr Neliaku said.
Earlier in his speech, Mr Bogoro urged Nigerians to pray for the emergence of patriotic leaders in the 2023 general election.
“With patriotic statesmen and women, youths, politicians, professional, community and religious leaders, we can collectively change the narrative and redirect our country and Africa,” he said.
According to Mr Bogoro, leadership requires that one must be patriotic and can be trusted, while the citizens complement the role of leaders by being law-abiding.
“If this happens in Nigeria and because of our numerical and economic advantages, it will be Nigeria against the rest of Africa; it will have a ripple effect on other countries in Africa.
“We do not have to plunge ourselves into an unfortunate situation or other countries of Africa before we provide the desired leadership required of Nigeria in Africa and for the rest of the world.
“If leaders treat each other with respect and a sense of fairness in our day-to-day life in both public and public sector, we will achieve a lot, and the major tribes in the country will turn around the fortunes of the country if they can work together,” Mr Bogoro said.
