Nigeria’s former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Dr. Christopher Kolade, at the weekend said the Federal Government’s multi-billion naira expansion of Abuja Airport road to 10 lanes was unnecessary as the government would have rather diverted such huge amount of funds into re-habilitation of the ‘long neglected’ Benin-Ore road, which was more important and key to Nigeria’s realization of Vision 20:2020.
In fact, Kolade who was the Guest Speaker at the Abuja Zonal Dinner/Alumni Session of the Lagos Business School, believed that Nigeria’s quest to be amongs the World’s 20 biggest economies by the year 2020 may be unsuccessful if the government continued to neglect some important aspects of economic development.
“What do you want to carry on the 10-lane Abuja Airport road? There is the Benin-Ore road, we don’t touch it. That is the road that will take us to Vision 20:2020. The expanded road will only enable you zoom into town and you crawl as soon as you get into town,” he said.
Kolade who delivered a lecture titled, “Building Lasting Institutions,” said results could only be achieved when the mission and vision of an entity were effectively implemented, Vision and mission statements, according to him, indicated purpose, intent and ambition.
He noted that most Nigerians including the leaders had allowed to be deceived by the figure 20 in the Vision, as he said they had forgotten that the date was just 10 years from now. He said the people should be properly carried along as the programme would not be successful except the people were fully involved.
According to him, “It is the people that will move this economy to where it is going but many people don’t know why the 20:2020 was chosen.
It cannot happen unless we are all pushing for the Vision.”One factor, the industrialist pointed out, which dragged organisations backward was their inability to find, recruit, develop and retain talented and committed employees.
He added, “Failure of leadership is one of the problems in Nigeria. We have not been able to find, recruit talented people in leadership positions. The organization should be supportive and have the culture to make people perform.”
Earlier in her remarks, Dean, LBS, Dr. Enase Okonedo, said that the school had continued to grow from strength to strength and that it would continue to do its best.
She said, “Since the last dinner, we have made significant strides. We have been ranked by Financial Times as one of the best 55 business schools globally. We have a mission, and as Alumni, we spread the core value, one of these is the professionalism with which those who passed out of LBS do their job.
“In Nigeria, we have a problem. We are renowned worldwide for corruption. We have a duty to change that impression by doing things right. People always say it is a Nigerian thing but we do not believe that there is a way of Nigerians doing things. We can start changing that through the way we relate outside.”
The President of the LBSAA, Mr. Udeme Ufot in his welcome address, said the session offered opportunity for continuous learning, which the school was known for. “Today’s lecture tells us to build sustainable institutions of values to make sure they are successful. Private sector can drive productivity by having a well-trained workforce,” he noted.
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