Lasu 82nd Inaugural Lecture: Professor Aina advocates people’s developed constitutional order, political pluralism

Cyriacus Nnaji, 

Lagos Professor of Educational Management, Faculty of Education, Lagos State University (LASU) Professor Olusola David Aina, has advocated people-developed Constitutional order and political pluralism as a critical factor in nation-building. 

Aina took the position while delivering the 82nd Inaugural Lecture of LASU with topic “Management and Leadership in the University: Dilemma or Titillation to Nation Building”. The event took place at the Buba Marwa Auditorium of the institution at Ojo, Lagos State on Tuesday, January 18, 2022. 

 He said “There is the need to anchor nation-building on the historical development and prevailing reality of each society; there is the need for people-developed (not externally-imposed) constitutional order; political pluralism should be encouraged; democratic governance should be embraced; and Quality of leadership should be measured in terms of transparency and accountability.” 

 Aina also recommended that there should be a correlation between organisational democracy and democratic governance and that congruence must be established between the leadership and management of a nation. He also advocated that existing traditional structures of governance through the Council, the Senate and faculties should be sustained. However, there is the need for a well-designed participatory institutional framework. 

While stating that Management is the technique used for dealing with and managing persons of different age groups to work together for achieving common objectives, added that Leadership is the process of influencing the activities of an organized group towards goal setting and goal achievement. With special emphasis on Leadership, he said Leadership is required in every aspect of human endeavour. Effective leaders are needed in the military, in educational institutions, in social organisations, in business enterprises, government circles, and international organisations. He revealed that a leader could be defined as an individual with the ability to motivate or induce others. “A leader is the one who accompanies and guides on a journey and ensures the destination is safely reached.” 

Speaking on types of leadership styles which include Autocratic leadership; Democratic leadership; Laissez faire leadership; Situational leadership; Traditional leadership; Charismatic leadership; Constitutional leadership and Servant Leadership, Aina added that Leadership in any human endeavour should be seen as responsibility, not privilege; strong belief in teamwork; willingness to take risks and not to fear failure; the talent to sometimes reject the logic and take decisions based on instinct and heart; the ability to use power, when necessary, but after thought and always with caution and an understanding that compromises is not a weakness as long as it does not threaten fundamental values and goals of the organisation. 

For Aina, Nation-building can involve building different ethnic groups into one national entity. This, he said, can be especially challenging in countries that colonial powers had typically divided, ruled, and suppressed their social, ethnic, religious, and cultural evolutions. He maintained “Leadership becomes a pandemic when countries gain their independence, ancient tribalism and rivalry between ethnic groups resurfaces, and can sometimes tear the nation apart, especially if their territorial borders place rival groups together or split one down the middle. Examples include Biafra, which in 1970 tried to secede from Nigeria, or the continuing demand of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) for total independence.” 

Aina opined that the interplay of leadership, management, and nation-building is intricate and inseparable. He added that Nigeria is a nation born in optimism at independence but has lived in a state of doubt and uncertainty. “All kinds of analysis and conclusions have been made on what has become a Nigerian dilemma over nation-building and national development. This is because all countries compared to Nigeria in 1960 (examples are third world countries in Asia like Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea) have made astronomical progress and developed relatively stable social, political and economic systems while Nigeria is immersed in wars, insurgencies, terrorism, economic crises, financial corruption, famine, diseases and poverty, political instability, to name a few.”  

Aina added that to ensure nation-building, it is often necessary to draw up a charter that will include national harmony, political democracy, economic and social development, social justice, cultural revival, and regional and international cooperation. At the same time, the basic principles are national unity, active participation of the people, the decisive role of the human factor, the struggle for social justice, self-reliance, and a strong relationship between people and leadership. 

Professor Aina whose contributions to knowledge have revolved around human capital development and capacity building, was at the Institute of Training and Organisational Development of the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs of the University of Pittsburgh, he was also a Programme Director for over three years. Aina had the responsibility for programme design, implementation and evaluation. Some of the programmes he has directed included Leadership and Organisational Innovation, Advanced Management Programme, and Project Management.