By Ruth Ani and Ifebuche Nnamani

A university professor has blamed Nigeria’s ongoing security challenges and political troubles on poor leadership and has called for major changes in how the country trains its future leaders.

Professor Amunadi Chukwudi made the remarks during his 58th Inaugural Lecture at a university event attended by academics, students, and community leaders. In the lecture, he argued that the nation is suffering from a serious leadership vacuum that allows violence and instability to continue.

“Leadership is at the centre of what a nation becomes,” Prof. Amunadi said. “Instead of dealing with groups and individuals who promote violence and crises, our leaders often look the other way.”

He described the situation as a national crisis and urged a shift from “transactional politics”, where leaders focus only on what they can gain to a more honest and people-centred style of leadership.

According to the professor, real change must start with a new standard for public service. He proposed three important pillars; Visionary Focus: Leaders should put the welfare of citizens first and create policies that genuinely improve people’s lives; Servant Leadership: Public office should be about serving others, not grabbing power. True leaders, he said, work to wipe away people’s tears and support their happiness; Absolute Accountability: Leaders must be honest, open to public questioning, and ready to operate with full transparency.

A major part of Prof. Amunadi’s lecture focused on the role of universities. He said higher education in Nigeria must go beyond teaching technical skills and also focus on building good character in students.

He called for a complete review of the General Studies curriculum to give more attention to moral education. The professor suggested introducing what he called “theological literacy”, not religious indoctrination, but training in universal values such as ethics, social justice, respect for the rule of law, and compassion.

To make this practical, he recommended stronger partnerships between universities, civil society groups, and religious organisations. He proposed sending students on internships with NGOs and community institutions to develop both knowledge and moral discipline.

Prof. Amunadi urged university authorities to create a dedicated department or programme in Religion Studies and Human Relations. He noted that experts have been pushing for this since 2017.

He criticised the current system for pouring money into technology and science while ignoring the ethical training needed to use these tools responsibly.

For example, he contrasted today’s heavy focus on areas like cyber security and artificial intelligence with what he believes is missing: moral security, core human values, and character development that produces responsible global citizens.

“Philosophy and religion must work together to create a complete education,” he concluded. Only by training leaders who are both intelligent and deeply ethical can Nigeria overcome its current challenges.

When concluding his speech, he gave out the advantages of General studies, in rational thinking and it’s help reduce moral conflict, leadership values and responsible citizenship.

Before giving his vote of thanks, in his words, cited, “Research should also investigate how social media technology, artificial intelligence, influence basic values and behavior. Further research also should investigate how each institution is promoting or disadvantaging the issue of values formation”