Dr AbdulWaheed AbdulBaki of the University of Ilorin on Wednesday identified money politics as the cause of bad governance in Nigeria.
AbdulBaki, of the Department of History at the university said this at the weekly Political Dialogue of The Nation Leadership Institute organised by its president, Chief Iyiola Oyedepo.
The dialogue/training is organised for emerging political leaders in Kwara.
AbdulBaki, in his contribution during an interactive session said politicians should do away with money politics if the country or Kwara would witness good governance.
“Politicians are the problem of the state; we should do away with money politics if we want good governance in Kwara.
“When politicians give you money during campaigns, what they do immediately upon assumption of office is to loot the money back with interest,’’ he said.
AbdulBaki said to have good governance, political leaders standing election should come from the environment and not strangers to the political environment.
“Most political leaders are strangers to the environment; they don’t understand the basis for being in politics.
“Political leaders should evolve from within the immediate environment and not from outside the environment,’’ AbdulBaki said.
In his contribution, a media consultant, Malam Tunde Mohammed, described politics in Nigeria as politics of opportunity.
He noted that one of the banes of good governance is the civil servants who implement government’s policies.
Mohammed called on civil servants to always tell the truth and stand by the truth always.
Earlier, the guest lecturer, Dr Bashir Ibrahim, also of the University of Ilorin, described governance and public service as the nexus between a functional government and the citizenry.
In his paper entitled: “Governance and Public Service’’, Ibrahim said governance and public service facilitated government’s responsibility to the public and the people’s participation in the affairs of a country.
Ibrahim, a lecturer at the Department of History and International Relations at the university listed eight characteristics of good governance to include transparency, participation, rule of law and responsiveness.
Others, he said, are accountability, effectiveness and efficiency, equity as well as inclusiveness.
He said public servants were the wheels that drove governance, adding that to get good governance, the country needs good, efficient and effective public servants.
NAN reports that more than 50 people were selected from all the 16 local government areas of Kwara for the political dialogue/training that will last for four months. (NAN)
