LAGOS – Former President Goodluck Jonathan has warned that Nigeria will continue to struggle with development unless it abandons what he described as primitive methods of electing political leaders based on religion, ethnicity, language, and other narrow sentiments.
Jonathan stated that the country must prioritise competence and merit in leadership recruitment, stressing that no matter how qualified an individual may be, Nigeria cannot make meaningful progress if leadership selection remains tied to divisive considerations.
The former president spoke on Saturday in Lagos at the Herbert Macaulay Colloquium, held to mark the 162nd posthumous birthday of the nationalist pioneer, who was born on November 14, 1864.
Addressing participants at the event, Jonathan lamented that religious bias in politics had even descended into denominational discrimination in some parts of the country.
“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 where 99.9 per cent of the people are Christians, yet if you don’t belong to one particular denomination, you cannot become the state governor,” he said.
“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 move forward.”
Beyond leadership recruitment, the former president identified weak institutions, corruption, policy inconsistency, inadequate infrastructure, and insecurity as major factors impeding Nigeria’s growth.
He also called for comprehensive democratic reforms, describing Nigeria’s current democratic system as “opaque and amorphous.” According to him, the system must be reviewed to guarantee popular participation, the rule of law, respect for human rights, judicial independence, accountability, pluralism, and a vibrant civil society.
On human capital development, Jonathan stressed the need to prioritise functional education and establish research-intensive universities capable of driving technological advancement and innovation. Citing India, Singapore, and South Korea as examples, he noted that those nations leveraged quality education to achieve rapid economic transformation.
“You can’t go anywhere with weak educational institutions,” Jonathan said, urging the government to deliberately invest in its best brains and build world-class universities to compete globally.
Paying tribute to Herbert Macaulay and other founding nationalists, Jonathan added that the greatest honour Nigeria could accord them was not merely celebrating their sacrifices, but building a nation that truly reflects the ideals for which they fought.
