Corporate Governance In Nigeria – Interview With Dr Christopher Kolade (CON)

Dr Christopher Kolade NG@60

Dr Christopher Kolade started by saying that he was delighted for the opportunity to be speaking at The Platform as he had been following the program for years.

He spoke on the topic – CORPORATE GOVERNANCE IN NATION BUILDING.

He stated that when the wrong people are put into a system, no matter how good the structure, it won’t work. This, according to him, is where the Nigerian problem is. The system may be right and the policies may be right but the people running these systems are not the right fit.

He also recalled that he lived in times when it was a collaborative effort to get things to work. Anyone who wanted to set up a postal agency, for instance, the leader of the community would rally members of the community to clear an area and join in building the postal agency. This made everyone feel like they had a stake in the facility. To this, he said that the reason we have so much negativity in the country today is that individuals do not see themselves as having any stakes in the country. We appoint representatives to National Assembly and instead of representing us, they make the position their rights and do not see any need to be accountable to the people they’re representing.

If truly politics in Nigeria is seen as service, why would a politician employ thugs or kill just to get into power?

To the question of whether being in politics is a good opportunity to change things in the country, he responded that if truly politics in Nigeria is seen as service, why would a politician employ thugs or kill just to get into power?

He concluded his session by stating that the people who are actively in politics are not the only ones to blame. We were all brought up with different values and disciplines, are we passing these same values across? We need to see ourselves as custodians of these values. Our duty is to preserve and develop what we have received so that the next generation would have something to build on.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *