The vice chancellor of Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka, Prof. Andy Egwuyenga, has said leaders in Nigeria must return to the path of integrity in all their dealings to sustain national development.
He made the call while delivering the 2024 Annual Public Service Lecture of the University of Ibadan Alumni Association (UIAA), Asaba chapter.
Speaking on the theme: “Integrity and national development: What nexus?” he underscored the importance of integrity as a vital variable in determining national development in Nigeria.
He listed four types of integrity: personal integrity, workplace integrity, professional integrity, and political integrity. He pointed out that a corrupt leader will see these opportunities as a means of personal enrichment and misappropriate them.
“The country is where it is today because policymakers and state builders have scrapped this vital variable over the years. And until the nation returns to the path of integrity in all our dealings, the road to national development in Nigeria may become even longer,” he posited.
Egwuyenga posited that a man of integrity builds a reputation continuously through honesty, reliability, and consistency in his behavior when relating to others. “If you desire reputation, follow the path of integrity,” he said.
The vice chancellor said the connection between a culture of integrity and national development is straightforward, as it begins with leadership.
“A leader of integrity would always deliver on good governance, which is an overwhelming recipe for national development that involves the efficient and effective development of the resources available in the state to meet the immediate and long term needs of the people.
“It is only leaders of integrity that can identify and optimize the opportunities provided by the resources in attaining excellence. Integrity transforms a society and open up endless opportunities of growth and development.
“The culture of integrity will eliminate corruption right down from the family level through the corporate level and then up to the national level. The gap between the rich and poor countries in the world is only being widened by the degree of integrity available in such states,” he said.
In his conceptual clarification, Prof. Egwuyenga stated that integrity can be seen as the quality of high moral uprightness.
Earlier, chairman, UIAA, Asaba chapter, J I Kagho, said that through its alumni the University of Ibadan has contributed significantly to Nigeria’s political, industrial, economic, and cultural development in the past six decades.
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