The former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, has described President Bola Tinubu as a leader willing to lead with unbridled bravery, even at a personal cost.
Dogara made this statement during his speech at the 14th convocation and 17th anniversary of the founding of the Achievers University, Owo, Ondo State.
He emphasized that any transformational leader must be courageous and stated that a good leader must not only allow history to happen, but actively make it happen.
The former president noted that the lack of leadership had plunged the country into its current state of disarray and had failed to prevent things from getting progressively worse.
“With what President Bola Tinubu has done, be it freeing the local government areas from the strangulation of economic stagnation that the states had subjected them to or the innovative and bold tax reform proposals he presented to the National Assembly, I see a ray of hope that We may be looking at a leader who is prepared to lead with unbridled bravery, even at his own cost.
“It warms my heart that we now have a leader who does not shy away from difficult tasks and is not willing to postpone difficult conversations.
“With it, courage has become a habit, and that habit has the power to transform our leadership, as the miracles we desperately long for may well lie in the difficult tasks and conversations we are avoiding.
“I support the president’s tax reforms not because they are perfect, but because they are the right thing to do.
“However, I must admit the fact that those who oppose it have the right to do so, but I do not share their jaundiced, tenuous and childish position that, because they do not agree with some aspects of the reforms, they must be withdrawn or delicate.
“Leaders who are dedicated to reform and progress do not make such wrong decisions at all,” he said.
According to him, those who oppose the reforms should clearly explain where they disagree and make better proposals than the President’s for Nigerians to compare and contrast to make informed decisions.
Dogara, chancellor of Achievers University, said a call to do nothing about the reforms was bad politics, pure buffoonery or a combination of both.
According to him, addressing Nigeria’s economic challenges requires bold, decisive and coordinated actions on multiple fronts.
He said achieving the vision of desired transformation would require sacrifices, responsibility and collective determination of all Nigerians.
The Chancellor called on the youth to be at the center of the transformation, stating that through education, innovations and a shared commitment to excellence, “we can build a Nigeria that meets the aspirations of its people.”
Dogara therefore charged Nigerian universities to be centers of learning and innovation that would find practical solutions to the country’s economic problems.
He said universities must partner with industries and government to ensure that the knowledge generated has real-world applications.
The Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Council of the institution, Dr. Bode Ayorinde, said that the institution, over the last 17 years, “has consistently produced graduates who are equipped with the skills, knowledge and values necessary to make a positive difference in lives “. world.”
Ayorinde lamented that a large number of educated minds produced annually in the country graduate with a grim hope of what to do soon after.
According to him, the country’s 275 universities and more than 500 other higher institutions together produce more than a million graduates annually, but there are no jobs that provide them with the necessary mentorship to contribute their quota to national development.
He urged the graduates to be agents of change and not wait for opportunities but create them.