Bayelsa State governor, Senator Douye Diri, is considering the establishment of a leadership institute, as part of his contributions to the mentorship of the next generation of political leaders.
This is coming even as the University of Lagos is to hold a public lecture and also endow a professorial chair in Diri’s honour, as a book project on the leadership qualities of the governor has been completed by the UNILAG Consult.
Managing Director of the Consult, Prof. John Oyefara, who disclosed this on Thursday during a courtesy visit to Government House, Yenagoa, said the institution has also proposed a public lecture as well as endowing of a Professorial Chair in the Department of Political Science in his honour.
Diri lamented what he called poor preparations for public offices, noting that this had contributed largely to leadership failure across the country.
But he said even though he was the team lead, his government has been able to achieve so much for the state because of the commitment of everyone in the team.
His words: “It is really interesting when people, without your prompting, decide to do a thing for the purpose of posterity. A lot of the time we do not document these events and activities as we look at them as not too important. But they are.
“I have toyed with the idea that if I had the resources, can I establish a leadership institution in Bayelsa State? So that before anyone thinks of becoming a councillor, council chairman, commissioner, special adviser or even governor, he knows what he is coming to do in office. If you are not prepared for it, then we are bound to fail as a country and as a state.
“So, I have been pleasantly surprised by the University of Lagos and I think it is a good thing.
“Let me also state that the success in Bayelsa is not all about me. It is actually about our team. We have a dedicated team of commissioners, special advisers, technical advisers and everybody contributing their quota to the whole.
“That is why if anyone says we have done well in infrastructure, it is because down the ladder, those who have been vested with that authority have implemented our policies, projects and programmes to the best of what we expected to be.”
He approved the proposals from the delegation and thanked them for recognising him in the midst of others, according to the governor’s spokesman, Mr. Daniel Alabrah.
In informing the governor of their proposal on the professorial chair, Oyefara had said that “at the University of Lagos, we have a tradition on assessing leaders in Nigeria. We use our own templates and standards that are global to measure the leadership in Nigeria.
“We identified Your Excellency to be a leading star in Nigeria, based on leadership and governance. We decided to put together all your achievements.
“The purpose of our visit was to inform you about our project in three thematic areas. One, is on the publication of the book we have been able to put together about His Excellency’s achievements in the state.
“We also propose a public lecture where renowned leaders in Africa will deliver lecture on leadership and governance to exemplify the achievements of the governor.
“The third one is for the Department of Political Science in the University of Lagos to see the possibility of endowing a professorial chair in the name of His Excellency.”
