Wale Oyewale, Ibadan
A former governor of the old Western Region, Brigadier General Oluwole Rotimi (retd.), said on Monday that he had given up hope on the present generation of political leaders in the country in view of their selfish approach to governance.
Rotimi, who was the Chairman at the 21st Benjamin Oluwakayode Osuntokun Lecture, held at the Emeritus Professor Theophilus Ogunlesi Hall, University College Hospital, Ibadan, also expressed worries about the attitude of the citizens to information from those who should know.
He said, “Nigeria is not short of people who will diagnose the causes of our problems. It is in finding solutions that we are lost.
“It is sad that rather than stick to the message, people would rather take on the messenger. When certain messages are passed to Nigerians we criticise the messenger; we don’t give thought to the message.
“For me, there is no hope in the present generation of political leaders. There is a Yoruba proverb which says that a dog that would get missing would not heed the call of the hunter.
“A word is sufficient for the wise. In this country, I want to join others in re-emphasising, that we need to reintroduce the teaching of history and civic education.
Earlier in his lecture, Maj. Gen. Akintunde Akinkunmi (retd.), said greed and corruption were intertwined, and explained that the former (greed), gave birth to the latter.
Akinkunmi, who was Chief Medical Officer (Reserves), Royal Army Medical Corps, British Army, stated that greed emanated from discontentment.
Source: PunchNG
