The Savannah Centre for Diplomacy, Democracy and Development has said that ineffective political leadership at all levels of governance is a challenge to development, stability and security in the country.
The centre stated this in a communique at the end of the second edition of its four-series Policy Monitoring Dialogue on Leadership, Governance and Security Challenges in Nigeria in Abuja on Friday.
It said that majority of the nation`s leaders lacked national vision and ideology due to their ethnic, religious or regional cleavages.
It said that Nigerians expected their governments to ensure their welfare and security which could be met through the judicious and accountable management of the nation’s resources.
According to the centre, it is therefore in the best interest of the political elite to deliver to the people the dividends they justifiably deserve.
It explained that effective leadership and good governance depended on the quality and effectiveness of the political parties in a country.
This, it said, required that political parties reinvented and re-positioned themselves for the important role through the development of appropriate content in their manifestos.
The group added that this could be achieved through a determination to attain high standards of education, character and competence for political office holders.
The communique said that it was unfortunate that most political parties in the country were funded by the wealthy who manipulated their affairs for selfish gains.
“The Nigerian political elite use religion and ethnicity negatively to advance their own selfish interests.
“Religion and ethnicity have gradually and unduly crept into politics and public affairs contrary to the spirit and letter of secularity as enshrined in the Constitution,’’ it said.
It, therefore, recommended that curriculum of schools and other manpower training institutions should be designed to include appropriate content for discovering and grooming future leaders for the country from childhood.
It also recommended that political parties should develop and publicise clear procedures and standards for choosing those that should stand for public offices.
It further recommended that a crowd funding or public funding mechanism be prescribed for political parties to improve their internal democracy and encourage ownership by all members.
“Clear limits of financial and material contributions should be set for political parties, while anti-corruption and other accountability institutions should be strengthened to give more impetus to the fight against corruption,’’ the communique said.
It added that the National Assembly should fast-track the passage of the Whistle-Blower Bill to promote the quick recovery of stolen public funds.
“Public institutions responsible for monitoring, evaluation and accountability should be strengthened through adequate funding and capacity building for efficiency and reliability,’’ it said.
It said that security threats facing the country included insurgency, terrorism, violent extremism, ethno-religious conflict and vandalism, economic sabotage and unemployment among others.
All this, it added, could be attributed to the prolonged failure of government in delivering on its duty to guarantee the welfare and security of the people.
The centre charged civil authorities to summon the political will to hold the military and other security agencies accountable
for the use of excessive force or the abuse of their discretionary powers in handling civil insurrections.
According to it, the government should ensure the improvement of the capacity of the Nigeria Police to reduce the apparent over-reliance on the military to quell civil insurrections.
It said that the Office of the National Security Adviser should be reviewed with the aim of separating its roles of advising the president of the country, and coordinating security agencies.
It said that to effectively check open rivalry and overlapping roles between and among security agencies, government should clearly define their roles and create a suitable platform for the sharing of intelligence.
The group also advised that an effective cyber defence strategy should be developed and embodied in the reassessed National Security architecture to check cyber security threats.
The post Centre blames Nigeria`s insecurity on ineffective political leadership appeared first on Vanguard News.
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