Former Ekiti State Governor Dr. Kayode Fayemi yesterday delivered a lecture at the maiden symposium of the Advanced Media and Communications Academy (AMCA) at the University of Ibadan.

Dr Fayemi identified the promotion of merit above ethnicity, value reorientation and punishment for corruption as the pathway to a new Nigeria.

The symposium was in honour of two retired ambassadors – Dr Yemi Farounbi and Ayoola Olukanni.

Speaking on the theme: “Our New Nigeria: Role of Professionals in Government,” Fayemi said the notion of ‘ professionals in government’ had been misconstrued for so long, just as some of the so-called professionals who were in government were unable to perform effectively due to their narrow knowledge and experience.

According to him, Nigeria must overcome the wrong notion of professionals in politics because most politicians were also professionals. He explained that professionals must open themselves to acquire more knowledge about managing people in order to succeed in governance.

Emphasising the importance of putting a round peg in a round hole, Fayemi said a new Nigeria would not be born until merit is used in recruitment and promotion in the public service and selection for political appointments.

The governor was represented by Mr Ayo Afolabi, who is the director of publicity, All Progressives Congress (APC), Southwest Zone.

Fayemi said: “On the one hand, there are those who believe in merit as the sole requirement for initiating individuals into public service. They believe that the public service should feature our best and brightest. On the other hand, there are those who believe that merit is insufficient as a principle for recruitment and that representing diversity should weigh as much if not more in the constitution of the government. They argue that a strict application of educational qualifications and experience in recruitments would engender the hegemony of certain sections of the country as well as an ethno-regionally lop-sided complexion of the national governmental apparatus.

“Such an outcome, according to some polemicists, would be grossly injurious to the cause of national unity in a pluralistic society. Advocates of equal opportunity therefore crafted public policies, such as the federal character principle ostensibly to guide the equitable distribution of public sector appointments to reflect the breadth of Nigeria’s diversity and to protect minority communities from domination by majority communities. In an ethnically diverse society, appearances matter and the government must not only represent the people; it must be seen to be representative of the people. This, it is contended, can only be achieved by fostering a sense of belonging by distributing positions to representatives of sub-national constituencies.

“Some advocates of equal opportunity contend that a desire for professionalism as espoused in the preference for competent individuals and a desire for equality need not be considered mutually exclusive. It is entirely possible to meet both demands. In reality however, over the past few decades the emphasis on representation has been trumpeted significantly at the expense of merit to the point where considerations of competence and integrity are a distant second place or not even any longer on the radar of concern.”

The former governor said the new government must also battle to redeem the hearts of Nigerians in addition to its anti-corruption crusade if it must succeed in fostering the birth of a new Nigeria.

His words: “Given the clear commitment of the present administration to fighting corruption, it is also clear that a key component of any holistic anti-corruption campaign should be a battle to redeem the hearts and minds of Nigerians. There are changes that will be accomplished through diligent prosecution of official wrongdoing and reforms in the architecture of our institutions – certainly – the culture of official impunity can be dispelled once it becomes clear that for the first time in our recent history, there is a confluence of the political resolve at the highest levels with refined and strengthened institutional capacity to ensure consequences for bad behaviour. The certainty of punishment is one of the strongest disincentives for official misconduct. But ultimately there also has to be a value reorientation of the society at large.”