The need to entrench an egalitarian society came to the fore when the Olori Atuwatse III of Warri Kingdom tasked the citizens at various levels to be passionate about enthroning the right leadership that will harness potentials for national developmental growth.
She lamented that bad leadership for a long time has remained the bane of the country’s underdevelopment thereby limiting the inherent potentials among the populace just as she challenged citizens occupying public and private positions of responsibility to invest in national human capital development.
The wife of the Olu of Warri, who was a Special Guest of Honour at the Business Day Inspiring Women II 2022 Conference in Lagos, also noted that harnessing potential requires the right leadership with foresight.
She opined, “We live in an evolving world and we hear the popular saying that the only constant thing in the world is change. We all know that change can be for the better or worse and so, it is my opinion that true leaders are the only ones that can lead us to that positive change.
“So my favourite definition of leadership by a research Professor, Bennett Brown, described a leader as ‘anyone who takes responsibility for finding the potential in people and process, and who has the courage to develop that potential.’
“I love the definition because it centred on responsibility and focus on people and processes instead of a leader. So, I want to ask you people today what leadership means to you?
“Many of us subconsciously develop our idea of leadership based on what we observed in our communities and family growing up and so lived in a society where leaders take the responsibility of the greater good and you are likely to take the responsibility to serve.
“However, if you are from a society where people see leadership as a status position, where they can amass wealth for themselves, then, you are more likely to see leadership as a tool for personal advancement and unfortunately the latter is the situation in our Country today.
“So, I want to encourage us to see leadership as one where we can envision the future we want and the type of leaders that we want to get there. I know I want a future for Nigeria where every leader across the public and private sector sees the great potential of Nigerians.
“I want a future where our leaders focus on national human capital development instead of just building good roads, we still need good roads, no doubt, but we need capacity building, we need leaders that are able to look at the future of the Nigerian people and bring it out.”
Other speakers at the well-attended event included Dame Abimbola Fashola, Hon. Imaan Sulaiman Ibrahim, Hon. Mojisola Macauley and Adaeze Udensi, among others.
