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From Lateef Dada, Osogbo
Professor of Philosophy, Olatunji Oyeshile, has blamed dependency on money as one of the factors preventing Nigeria from becoming a developed country.
He posited that the country would remain the same if money continues to determine who leads instead of experience.
Oyeshile, who delivered the lead paper during the international conference at Osun State University, Ikire campus, yesterday, posited that “unless we turn party politics to dividend yielding organisation that would cater for the needs of the people, we cannot develop.”
Speaking on the topic, ‘Decolonisation, identity politics and the burden of statecraft in Africa,’ he expressed displeasure over the number of candidates jostling for presidential tickets, saying, “Individuals are not working together in Nigeria, they are after power. That is why we have about 20 or more presidential candidates.
“In Nigeria, if you want to contest elections and you don’t belong to a particular group, or you are not rich enough, no matter what intelligence you have, you will be excluded and it is worse in the state because the state cannot benefit from the knowledge of that person.
“If people come together and identify the problem of the state, there can be a synergy. It’s not about who becomes the president but who is ready to do the job. Instead of doing that, we are having a multiplicity of political parties. They are after power and not the interest of the people.
“Unless, we turn party politics to dividend yielding organisation that would cater for the needs of the people, we cannot develop,” he reiterated.
Dr. Olga Stoyanowa-Encheva, who delivered the second lead paper, titled, ‘Work-life balance as an institutional value: Academic labour policies and democratic development in emerging democracies,’ said the study about people in academia, especially on women, became necessary because they take care of children and family, yet they work about eight hours.
She disclosed plans to have a memorandum of understanding to enable students of Nigeria to study in Bulgaria, noting that education in Europe is transitional, more digital and more affordable.
The conveners, Professors Felix Olatunji and Elija Agbaje, disclosed that the conference on political and institutional values and the quest for development in developing democracies, was organised by the Department of Philosophy, Ikire Campus of Uniosun and the Department of Political Science, Okuku Campus, in conjunction with the Faculty of Philosophy, St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Tarnova, Bulgaria, to interrogate the patterns of development among developing democracies in societies of the Global South.
The Uniosun’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Odunayo Adebooye, said the choice of the conference’s theme, ‘Political and Institutional Values and The Quest for Development in Developing Democracies,’ could not be more timely than now.
Represented by Prof. Mikail Folorunso, the Provost, College of Humanities and Culture, the VC noted that democracy is not a destination but a continuous process of questioning, redefining, improving and transforming the individual and collective values and wellbeing, hoping that the conference will offer participants a critical platform to interrogate and dissect the dynamic, complex and contradictory political and institutional values that have shaped and will continue to define democratic governance in countries of the Global South.
