The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr Nyesom Wike, says the country needs leaders like President Bola Tinubu to achieve the “Nigeria of our dreams.”
Wike said this in his 2025 Distinguish Personality Lecture, titled, “The Nigeria of our Dreams” presented at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife on Thursday.
Wike pointed out that the greatest challenge confronting Nigeria and militating against its development was the plague of bad leadership.
He agreed with Chinua Achebe, whose seminar, ‘The Trouble with Nigeria’, graphically captured the challenge, when he stated that ‘the trouble with Nigeria is fairly and squarely the absence of proper leadership’.
“This statement, damaging as it may appear, is extremely difficult to controvert.
“Our leaders have, in the main, emerged through self-serving conspiracies that have little or nothing to do with national interests and development.
“This has been the case in both military and civilian contexts,” he said.
He, however, said that Tinubu had stood out as the leader the people need to drive Nigeria to progress and prosperity.
He explained that Nigeria needs a leader that was prepared to lead with sound character and resilience in the face of challenges.
He added that the leader must also be a person who believes in the infinite possibilities that the Nigerian nation exemplifies, while taking solid, proactive, logical and well-informed decisions that would maximally actualise her potential.
This leader, he said, must have the courage and audacity to act, build, innovate and generally expand the frontiers of development with a hands-on approach that would emphasise excellence over mediocrity.
He added that more importantly, the leader of Nigerians’ dream must create a society of free and responsible citizens whose potentials flow freely and free enterprise thrives.
“Let me make bold at this juncture to state that today, in our country, we have such a leader in the person of Tinubu.
“He has shown in several ways and at different times, a stout commitment to the enthronement of democracy in our country, to the extent of even putting his own life on the line in the process.
“He has shown great capacity for engendering development as captured in the unprecedented rapid and exponential development of Lagos state under his watch and even beyond,” he added.
