During the Great Depression of the 1930s, it took the charisma of President Franklin Delanor Roosevelt to inspire hope and confidence in ordinary Americans. It was at that critical time, when businesses were shutting down, jobs were at great risk and families were struggling to put food on the table that the inspirational leadership of President Roosevelt came to the fore.
While he didn’t promise a magic touch to heal the economy immediately, he inspired the people to believe in themselves. His most popular quote; “The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself”, was crafted during this period and he rallied ordinary Americans and business leaders to the understanding that it wasn’t all over, that the good days are yet ahead.
One would be presenting himself as insensitive and even senseless, if you deny the reality of the economic crunch in today’s Nigeria. People are suffering. Our economy is in dire straits, and there is no one who isn’t affected by the sudden deterioration of our economy.
Even the wealthiest people in Nigeria are finding it difficult maintaining their lifestyles. And, the reality is that it is taking too long already, before we begin to see the gains of these economic reforms. We believe that there are gains, but people don’t have to die before the gains begin to manifest.
The President, His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, is sincere about his vision to transform Nigeria to a solid economic giant with steely feet. Over the years, we have been living a lie.
We have been surviving on palliatives, and one doesn’t need to be an economist to agree that no nation survives far too long under such arrangement. It is therefore, necessary that these reforms are executed, with utmost sincerity.
And it requires courage to do this, and President Tinubu certainly has the courage and the patriotism necessary to drive this through.
Even with that, are we going to pretend not to know that Nigerians are on edge? People are no longer able to afford the things they could. Things that were so easy to acquire in the past have become unattainable luxuries for many families today.
At this time, the inspirational leadership and ideas of a leader like Governor Uzodimma are required, and we must be thankful to him that he is not stingy with these.
Governor Uzodimma is arguably the most sought-after public speaker among present day politicians, and this is not merely because of his positions as governor, Chairman, Progressive Governors’ Forum, Chairman, Southern Governors’ Forum, Chairman, Southeast Governors’ Forum, and the chairmanship of several strategic commits in the country, but due to his tested erudition and practicality of his ideas in the transformational skills in leadership.
In the last one week, he spoke at two important academic functions, as the keynote speaker, where he lived up to the billing, in not just speaking to the situation at hand in the country, by recommending key steps towards overcoming the grievous economic challenges that Nigerians are facing.
At the maiden convocation lecture of the Federal University, Birnin Kebbi, the governor spoke on the topic; “The Challenges of Funding Public Universities in Nigeria: Pathways to Sustainable Tertiary Education “, the governor acknowledged the unsustainability of current funding sources for Nigerian public tertiary institutions, which he identified as; budgetary allocation, tuition fees, Tetfund, ETF and alumni contributions.
The governor recommended creative strategies by the universities to alleviate their funding challenges.
He encouraged stakeholders, both in the private and public sectors to embrace partnerships with universities in their localities not as mere charity but as investments for the development and growth of their various communities and the country at large.
Within the same week, he was also at the OJAJA University in Ilorin, Kwara State, where he spoke on the topic: “The Role Of Private Universities in Growing Skilled Labour for A Resilient Economy”, he advocated for adaptation of skills learning, especially, in private universities, which he recognised as not; “being encumbered by some of the constraints confronting public institutions”.
He argued that these private universities have a responsibility to fill the gaps that might be created by public institutions, by ensuring that they produce professionals, who are both equipped in conventional educational curriculum and other life skills that shall empower them to be self-sufficient and productive to the Nigerian economy.
Governor Uzodimma has been widely commended by stakeholders across various sectors for his pragmatism in ensuring that Nigerians are not left disillusioned by the prevailing economic challenges. The practicality of his ideas for improving our personal welfare and institutional survival has also been commended by academics and other stakeholders.
NIGERIA SHALL PREVAIL!
Onwuasoanya FCC Jones is Special Adviser to the Governor of Imo State on Public Communication.
