By Christopher Odamah, Warri

The African Centre For Leadership, Strategy and Development has attributed the cause of under development in Africa particularly Nigeria to leadership failure.

Also, “Obviously, the elders have failed the youths, they have failed to develop the youths” but he was quick to advise the youths not to fail themselves.

The Executive Director of the African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development, Dr. Otive Igbuzor disclosed this today in a remark at the 2nd annual leadership lecture and graduation ceremony of the 2nd set of Centre LSD Leadership School Effurun-Warri Study Centre.

While noting that the Africa Centre Leadership, Strategy and Development Leadership school started in 2009 under the auspices of Ejiro and Otive Igbuzor foundation, Dr. Igbuzor said, “This year in May, we did the 10th anniversary in Abuja where we graduated 681 students from the leadership school.”

Dr. Igbuzor said the Centre LSD Leadership School’s vision is to work with forces of positive change to empower citizens to transform society and to also dominate the political landscape of Nigeria.

Dr. Igbuzor expressed confidence that with the kind of leaders the Centre LSD has shown out, the story will change in the Niger Delta.

According to him, “Political leadership affects all other leaderships and we know that there are Niger Delta sons and daughters that are blazing the trail in different aspects of life. In the civil society, in academics, or in Diaspora.

“When it comes to political leadership, it appears that we are getting the worse kind of people to lead us in politics and Plato advised us that if you refused to participate in politics, you will be ruined by your inferiors,” Dr. Igbuzor stated.

Dr. Igbuzor said problems of the world, Africa, Nigeria and the Niger Delta region is “failure of leadership”.

He also said that the political leadership in the Niger Delta region has to be changed otherwise, militancy and other crimes will increase, stressing that, “Youths will continue collecting deve without personal development and in the final analysis, crime, poverty and criminality, despondency will continue here in the Niger Delta”.

How do you change a society? If you have a society like the Niger Delta when you are held down by a cabal who determines everything theoretically and practically, what do you need to do to change those kind of people?

We need to learn, we must increase our knowledge, we will learn all kinds of things to change values of society so that there will be positive values. Values of integrity, respect and dignity.

Dr. Igbuzor advised our young people to learn and after learning, they need to act theoritcally and practically. It is only then, we can change the Niger Delta.