Nigeria needs leaders who respect public office – Tunde Bakare

Pastor Tunde Bakare, Founder and Chairman of the Citadel School of Government (CSG), on Saturday said that his greatest desire is to witness a Nigeria that works for every Nigerian. Bakare said this at the graduation ceremony of the CSG pioneer students at the institution’s premises in Oregun, Lagos. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the students graduated with Advanced Diploma in Public Leadership and Statecraft for a nine-month course that began on Sept.

Bakare, the Serving Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church (CGCC) said that he remained confident that a Nigeria that works would emerge in his lifetime. He said: “We are approaching another significant electoral cycle in Nigeria. Across this country, new leaders will emerge at different levels of government.

“Existing leaders will confront increasingly complex demands. “The challenges are immense—insecurity, economic instability, decaying infrastructure, institutional weakness, and a crisis of trust between the governed and those who govern. “I am convinced that the solution to these challenges is not more of the same.

The solution is leaders who understand that public office is a sacred trust, not personal enterprise. “Leaders, who prioritise common good over private gain; and have the competence to translate vision into policy, and courage to translate policy into results.” To the graduating students, Bakare said they represented the new breed of leaders, who would break the cycle of incompetence and corruption. The serving overseer said they were leaving with something far more valuable than a document.

The cleric said they were leaving with a framework for thinking about governance that transcended political parties, ethnic loyalties and sectional interests, adding that they had been equipped to see the big picture. According to him, the quality of a nation is inseparable from the quality of the people, who exercise leadership within its institutions. “You are leaving with a charge to serve—not to dominate, not to accumulate, not to exploit.

You have been trained to lead with integrity, to govern with competence, and to serve with humility. They are the foundation upon which this institution was built. You are the ones who will bring fresh ideas, ethical standards and a commitment to excellence into the corridors o…