An alumnus of King’s College, Mr Etigwe Uwa (SAN), has blamed the slow pace of national development and growth on the weaponisation of poverty and ethnicity by some political leaders.

Uwa was speaking at the 114th annual Founder’s Day lecture organised by the King’s College Old Boys Association (KCOBA) on Wednesday, in Lagos.

The lecture, with the theme: “Dismantling the Barriers; Creating a Pathway for the Emergence of Effective Leaders in Nigeria”, is one of the activities lined up for the commemoration of the anniversary.

The week long celebration by the association is tagged ‘King’s Week 2023’.

According to Uwa, corruption among  politicians is the reason why the country still finds itself where it is, as they seem not to make the yearnings of the masses their top priority.

He noted that it was time the citizens resolved collectively as a people to break the barrier in the political space and take back what rightly belonged to them.

“Until Nigerians realize that there must be a mass invasion of the political space, not much is going to happen.

“We should also allow for a constitutional amendment that will accommodate independent candidacy.

“I will also suggest an electronic voting system, so that counting and collation is done electronically. We should take a cue from the banks and the telecommunications who have data base of all their customers and monitor their activities electronically. This too can be done when voting.

Uwa, who was a panelist at the lecture, emphasized the need to address the imbalance existing in the education sector in the country.

According to him, such imbalance takes away the motivation that people need to work hard.

“We must strive to do a catch up and create a level playing field. We must put our hands together, work together and ensure that there is equity in all spheres of our social life including education, he said.

Earlier in his keynote address, Sen. Enyinnaya Abaribe also identifies ethnicity and religion as some of the barriers facing the country, as it yearned for greatness.

According to him, these barriers are intertwined and have the potential to bring down any nation if not checked.

He stressed the need for a collective effort to stand against these factors in a bid to advance the course of the citizens and the nation itself.

“Whenever you see a system where people put tribal and religious sentiments ahead of the good governance, then such system could be heading for difficult times. Ultimately it slows down progress.

“We must also not allow our inability to take care of our children by allowing them drop out of school and align with some other things in the name of religion.

We must not leave out the substance that we are supposed to use to make Nigeria great.

“We must be able to know when to draw the lines by ensuring that the children are given their rights, especially quality education, taught good morals as well as commit more to character moulding that will give way to sound leaders of the country,” he said.

The lawmaker also identified lack of justice and equity as another barrier hindering accelerated growth and development of the country.

“Nothing endangers the feeling of the citizens, when they seem to be treated like second class citizens, especially when it is done brazenly.

“Another barrier is that of lack of competence and vision. Institutional competence has also been discovered over time to be one of the major reason for the state of our nation today.

There is the need for the right man for the job to always be the one to be considered, irrespective of who is involved.

“Another mind bugling issue that has posed as a serious barrier to the advancement of our country is that of corruption.

“Nigeria as a country is blessed with a lot of honest and enterprising people and we must not allow the corrupt ones to hold us down, because of their shameful acts. The challenge is that we hardly make a scape goat of any one.

“We must encourage those that are forthright, showcase them to the world in order to breakdown these barriers,” he stated.

Mr Funsho Doherty, ADC gubernatorial candidate for Lagos State, also a panelist at the lecture, urged citizens not to lose hope as the country was blessed with abundance of both human and material resources.

According to him, Democracy itself does not produce good leaders, noting that all what is required is good pillars to ensure the emergence of such leaders.

He said that there was the need for a better electoral process, adding that in doing this, all the pillars of democracy must not be undermined.

“We must focus on all the factors that have been highlighted here today if we indeed want to dismantle all the barriers and find means of coming together as a people and stay united,

“We cannot succeed if we are divided. We must also leverage on the use of technology in a bid to advance our political course and support our victory,” he said.

The President of the association, Alhaji Kashim Ibrahim-Imam emphasised on the need for a free and compulsory basic education for children of school age.

According to him, education is the right of every child, and it is a disservice  to the country itself as well as the children, if it failed to provide it

Mr Olumide Apata, Chairman, Planning Committee if this year’s Kong’s Week, said that if the country must dismantle the barriers, it must start with the people.

He also stressed the need for the elders in the country to ensure that they do not constitute barriers. (NAN)