Good Leadership’ll Change Nigeria in 6 Months – Julius Adeluyi

Former Minister of Health and Chairman Juli Pharmacy Plc, Prince Julius Adeluyi, has declared that Nigeria can turn around in six months, if only it has a good leadership, governance, and transparent structure in place.

Adeluyi was the guest speaker at the 2011 seminar and luncheon of the Professional Practice Group (PPG) of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) tagged: ‘A Roadmap to Enhance the Professional Business Environment: Best Practice’.

He said Nigeria was not faced with the issue of poverty alone but added that that there also exists a poverty of leadership and ideas.

In his words, “Nigeria does not have any business being poor because Nigeria naturally is not poor. All this can turn around in 6 months if we have good leadership. There is a poverty of leadership which we must address. The biggest problem we have in this country has to do with governance; the quality of governance at every level must be addressed.”

According to him, 80 per cent of all the money is in the hands of one per cent of the people, urging the chamber to press for good and transparent governance through an authoritative democracy. “If this is in place and we have good people to implement them, Nigeria will change in six months and this poverty will disappear,” he said.

“I will say there is a displaced priority. Until we have good leadership, governance, transparency and integrity driving the system corruption will continue, and when there is corruption progress is excluded,” he added.

He pointed out that it was difficult to preach ethics in Nigeria due to poverty, adding that the challenges were too many to be unethical.

In his words, “There are lots of people talking about ethics today that do not even practice it. Sometimes it is almost a crime to be ethical in a non-ethical setting. This is where the chamber of commerce must come out and say they are celebrating not because of their bottom line but showing people that even in this harsh operating environment business can still be done ethically.

“We must never give up. The Chamber, after it has strengthened itself, must make sure that it continues to do advocacy. If this chamber must change, it must select and utilise the younger generation and also partner with similar chamber formations. If you team up, you will have a good network and then you will have a good net worth such that if your name is mentioned in any particular forum what you will get is response and respect,” he said.

The President, LCCI, Otunba Femi Deru, said the theme of the seminar was significant to the declining ethical standards in the corporate world. He said best practices should be promoted and practiced by professionals in the country because it was the only way to curb unwholesome practices in the business community and the economy at large.

The Chairperson, PPG, Mrs. Toki Mabogunje, said the seminar was another opportunity to bring into focus important issues affecting the professionals and the economy.

She said, as part of the group’s contribution to the development of the professional practice, it was organising interactive sessions such as this seminar to address topical issues affecting the sector and the economy as a whole, while proffering solutions to the problems confronting operators within the sector.

She added that the group was one of the active and vibrant organs of the chamber, focusing on the impact of professional practice on the economy.

Thisday