From Cyril Mbah, Abuja.
The National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje has vowed to use the newly established educational outfit of the party, known as The Progressive Institute, to effectively transform the nation’s crude politics and also raise Nigeria’s level of governance to meet acceptable international standards.
Dr. Ganduje said the transformation and improvement of the political and leadership landscape cannot be postponed indefinitely without dire consequences to the growth of democracy and good governance as well as the overall development of the nation and its citizens.
The APC national chairman, who made the remarks in Abuja on Saturday during a one-day public debate on the draft programmes of the institution, said the time has come for Nigerian politics and politicians to move up the ladder in the practice of politics and governance so that the nation can become a good reference point for other nations that are grappling with leadership issues to emulate.
He spoke enthusiastically about developing the APC into an ideologically inclined party to give direction to the party and create examples for other political parties in the country to follow, pointing out that some of the difficulties associated with the growth of democracy since its advent in Nigeria included the absence of ideologies in the nation’s political space.
In his speech before declaring the event open Ganduja said: “The gathering here marks the beginning of our resolve to improve the political space using the intellectual instrument and by setting worthy examples for other political parties.
“The APC will start laying the foundations to become an ideologically driven political party. The party must pursue a good ideology to have an identity as a progressive patty.”
Earlier, the Chairman of the occasion, Professor Nuhu Yaqub, who was the former Vice Chancellor of the University of Abuja, commended the initiative and far-sightedness of the APC chairman in setting up the institution, which he hoped, will live up to expectations by remolding the intellectual capacity of Nigerian politicians and improving their practice of politics for greater nation building.
Prof. Yaqub suggested that the curriculum of the institute should be modelled in such a manner that there will be both theoretical and practical orientation of students on advanced governance system.
He also charged the institute to set worthy growth agenda for the ruling party to enable it focus properly on structural as well as human capital development that will benefit the nation.
