The 61st NBA AGC themed “Take The Lead” was nothing short of an amazing experience today as the Opening ceremony and addresses took off to a remarkable start. If you didn’t have the chance to make it this year, we will be bringing you a daily recap of the best highlights and all that you miss.
Here’s a rundown of some of the highlights of today:
The opening plenary titled, Taking The Lead – A Conversation on Leadership And Followership, moderated by Seun Okinbaloye, focused on a 360 degree perspective of leadership and followership. The speakers on the panel included Miannaya Essien SAN, Dr Bukola Saraki CON and other important participants.
Dr Bukola Saraki CON started the discussion by stating that leadership is not equivalent to the office a person occupies but rather by the responsibilities taken up by that person, his clarity of purpose and his/her ability to think outside the box.
Stressing the need for a change in the attitude of Nigerians towards followership through the provision of an enabling environment that allows more people to play key roles in leadership, he opined that there is the need for associations to committedly play their roles in holding their leaders accountable, and to this extent, followership is the problem facing Nigeria.
According to him, leadership is a recruitment that should be based on competence, merit, educational background, testimonials and agenda.
Bishop Matthew Kukah while expressing his thoughts on the topic stated that the leadership/followership problem is also psychological, thus there is a need for people to move away from the idea that responsibilities can be outsourced. According to him, there is a need for a massive education of the people, as the greatest challenge of any community is ignorance. He said, “People with decent backgrounds also need to be willing to occupy public offices”.
Hon. Onofiok wrapped up by stating that there needs to be a partnership between leaders and followers as well as the management of expectations on both sides. While sharing her view, Mia Essien SAN noted that “A leader is someone with a mission and a vision, who has a plan and recognizes the need for a team to achieve the plan”.
The sessions continue tomorrow with the second Plenary Session which commences at 9 am. The session is themed, A Debate on Fiscal Federalism.
We will be bringing you more highlights tomorrow.
– Timi from LawPavilion
