Former President Goodluck Jonathan has warned that Nigeria will continue to experience developmental setbacks unless it abandons what he described as outdated practices of choosing political leaders based on religion, ethnicity, language and other divisive interests.
Jonathan urged the country to embrace competence and merit in selecting its leaders, noting that even highly qualified individuals would struggle to deliver meaningful progress if leadership appointments and elections remained influenced by narrow considerations.
The former president made the remarks on Saturday at the Herbert Macaulay Colloquium in Lagos, organised to commemorate the 162nd anniversary of the birth of the nationalist pioneer.
Macaulay, who was born on November 14, 1864, is widely recognised as one of the founding figures of Nigerian nationalism.
Speaking at the event, Jonathan said: “We are still suffering from political leaders being recruited based on religion, language and all kinds of things. Sometimes it is even beyond Muslim or Christian. I know of a particular state in southern Nigeria that 99.9 per cent of them are Christians. But if you don’t belong to one particular denomination, you cannot be the governor of the state.
“That is the kind of thing we do. So no matter how good you are, until we move away from these primitive ways of recruiting political leaders, this country cannot go.”
Jonathan identified poor leadership, weak institutions, corruption, inconsistent government policies, inadequate infrastructure and insecurity as major obstacles to Nigeria’s development.
He also advocated far-reaching democratic reforms, describing the country’s existing democratic structure as “opaque and amorphous”.
According to him, Nigeria must reform its democratic system to accommodate greater public participation while strengthening the rule of law, protecting human rights, ensuring judicial independence and promoting accountability, pluralism and an active civil society.
The former president further emphasised the importance of investing in quality education and establishing research-driven universities capable of promoting technological growth and innovation.
Using India, Singapore and South Korea as examples, Jonathan noted that these countries had achieved significant progress through investments in education.
He said, “You can’t go anywhere with weak educational institutions.”
He maintained that Nigeria must intentionally invest in its brightest minds and develop globally competitive universities if it hopes to make meaningful progress on the international stage.
Paying tribute to Herbert Macaulay and other nationalist pioneers, Jonathan said the most meaningful way to honour their contributions was not simply to celebrate their sacrifices but to build a country that upholds the principles and ideals they stood for.
