Survey institute advocates for better governance in Nigeria

The Nigerian Institution of Surveyors (NIS) has called for improvement in the governance of Nigeria.

Speakers at the 18th annual Adekunle Kukoyi memorial lecture with the theme: “2023 General Elections: Whither Nigeria?” harped on the need for the country to elect leaders who would improve governance.

Prof. Idowu Sobowale, who was the guest lecturer at the event, lamented that the culture of impunity and zero consequences for culpable actions against the state had gradually become second nature.

According to him,  “The behavior of our leaders and others in positions of authority has entrenched indiscipline in our society to the extent that lawlessness has become a pastime in our country. Those who are paid to maintain law and order are the chief lawbreakers in the land. The overall effect of all these are degeneration of morals, gross debasement of our social values, lack of respect, disobedience, dishonesty, indolence, absence of fair play, and empathy.

“Instead, the alien and undesirable values of greed, selfishness, cruelty, and inordinate ambition, have been elaborated and elevated to the position of personal deities that people today worship. The culture of impunity and zero consequences for our actions against the state that has descended on our land, over time, gradually has become second nature.”

He posited that the leaders themselves have debased the once cherished values that gave society its dignity.

In the words of Sobowale: “The result, of course, has been the great decadence that we have witnessed in our social, political, and economic behaviours over time. These have translated to the massive corruption and the great indiscipline that have characterised the lives of many, to the extent of Nigeria being described as the “corruption” capital of the world.”