The Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Professor Adeolu Akande has called for more involvement of professionals in politics in the country.
Akande made the please in Abuja today Wednesday while speaking as Guest Speaker at the 2021 Fellows Investiture programme of the Nigeria Institution of Surveyors. He spoke on the topic, “Professionals, Politics and National Development”.
Professor Akande who teaches Political Science at the Igbinedion University, Okada,Edo State stated that professionals as individuals who have acquired requisite knowledge and skill in a particular sphere of human endeavour should show more interest in politics so that they can enrich the conduct of politics and government in the country.
He stated that the attributes of professionalism include education, skill, reliability, integrity, team play among others are in short supply in the nation’s political scene. “The more professionals we have in politics, the more the likelihood that our politics will exude these attributes and the more the chances that our conduct of politics and government politics will improve”, he said.
Professor Akande noted that these attributes among politicians is one reason why there is always tension between them and professional politicians who refer to them as technocrats who have been invited: to come and chop”, when professionals seem to take greater role in government.
He said the involvement of more professionals in politics will strengthen the professionals already in politics and help them to make their attributes improve the conduct of politicians in the country. He however noted that many professionals have also fallen prey of the common ills in Nigerian politics and this creates fears about the positive impact of more professionals’ participation in politics and government.
Professor Akande noted that the national quest for development will be helped when politicians complement the efforts of their colleagues in formulating quality decisions that would fast-track service delivery by government.
“Professionals in politics have the added advantage of combining practical knowledge of realities of the society with their skill and knowledge. With such professionals, there is no dichotomy between technocrats and politicians. The expertise required for good decision making is combined with the political knowledge and skill of being a politician. This helps in the formulation of realistic decisions and polity that will enhance quality of service by the government.
Nothing that politics could sometimes be dirty, Professor Akande opined that professionals who shy away from politics because it is dirty subject themselves to the tyranny of dirty politicians who would end up ruling over them.
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