From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, has suggested a redefinition of democracy in developing countries, that would be administratively different from what was obtainable in advanced democracy.
He said that democratic governance in developing countries should consider its peculiarities and adopt policies that would deepen its governance through effective administrative reforms that would encourage massive participation and national growth.
The Sultan who spoke at the late Sultan Muhammadu Maccido inaugural lecture at the University of Abuja (UniAbuja) believed that such reforms would quicken development and reposition democratic institutions for speedy national development.
The Sultan who spoke through the Emir of Keffi, Alhaji Shehu Yamusa III, charged the Sultan Maccido Institute for Peace and Development Studies, to be at the vanguard of providing stable and proactive strategies that are capable of delivering results on all areas of crimes and ethno-religious challenges in Nigeria.
He was hopeful that the maiden lecture series on management and leadership challenges in Nigeria, will further enhance peace, quality leadership and development in Africa.
The Vice Chancellor, Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State, Eghosa Osaghae, in his lecture, observed that the first set of African leaders had the vision and intellect to reverse the backwardness, underdevelopment, and despair on African continent, but their successors were unable to manage the goodwill.
UniAbuja Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Michael Adikwu, explained that the lecture series was to honour the late Sultan Maccido, in recognition of his immense contribution to the development of the university as the chancellor of the university.
Late Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Maccido died in a plane crash in 2006. He was succeeded by the current Sultan, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar.