Chief Tola Adeniyi, a renowned author and veteran journalist, on Wednesday advised private and public entities to always engage professionals in managing the country’s affairs to make Nigeria work again.
Adeniyi stated this during the opening ceremony of the 36th Annual General Meeting(AGM) of Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria (APBN) in Ibadan.
Speaking on ‘The Imperative of Nigerian Professionals in National Development’, Adeniyi said that real growth would continue eluding the country until professionals were put in charge of national activities.
He said that Nigeria was awash with many competent, effective and well trained professionals, wondering why many things were not working as expected in the country.
“In fact, many Nigerians are seasoned, venerated global personages in their professions. Nigerian doctors, engineers, IT specialists, accountants, lawyers and teachers, particularly in foreign universities, are making great reverberating waves.
“If we as Nigerians are these professionally capable, and we indeed are, then how come we have all these crumbling national institutions, epileptic systems and collapsed state organisations?
“Our professionalism in Nigeria has over the years been compromised and robbed of integrity. The leaders, professionals and non-professional, have not been able to lead aright,” he said.
He said although most of the nation’s institutions and systems were run by professionals what is missing is the professional touch.
“A professional activity devoid of integrity and moral foundation is insipid, dangerous and counter-productive,” he said.
He urged professionals to see themselves as the change champions, leaders, agents and catalysts of national development.
The renowned author implored professionals to take charge of Nigeria’s national advancement programmes and lead the transformation of national projects.
On his part, Mr Olumuyiwa Ajibola, the APBN president, said government alone could not solve the prevailing problems through political or bureaucratic lenses, but needed to be supported by professionals.
He said that the best solutions could only follow a deep definition and understanding of prevailing problems, which professionals were best familiar with.
Ajibola said that the APBN was ever ready and on standby to put the enormous professional resources of its member bodies to the service of the nation in a positive partnership with the government.
“In this regard, cross-professional study groups can be swiftly created towards finding the best solutions to issues, before outright policies are evolved.
“In this way, the resulting policies, would have taken the critical local setting into consideration and thereby become workable, and acceptable to most of the citizenry,” he said.
NAN reports that the event was attended by representatives of the various professional bodies that constituted the APBN.