Elumelu Canvasses Support for Military Industrialization
Mr Tony Elumelu, the Founder and Chairman of Heirs Holdings has canvassed for the Nigerian Government and private sectors support for the industrialization of the Nigerian Military. He canvassed for the support while fielding questions from journalists immediately after delivering a lecture entitled; Strategic Leadership: My Business Experiences to the participants of Course 26 of National Defence College Nigeria at the Abacha Hall.
In his words, “Not just the private sector but the Nigerian Government, the policy makers and the military need partnership. We need to collaborate and create an enabling environment that will first encourage military industrialization to take off”. He further reiterated that it is inevitable in this 21st Century, for our military might, our intentions and desires to profess being the superpower of Africa and beyond. He then emphasized that this is something we can achieve, but we need all hands to be on deck to actualize this; the government, the military and the private sectors working together by creating enabling environment and supporting researches.
Mr Elumelu remarked that he is not a template person. However, he assured that there are principles that work, like defining a destination, a long time destination and starting to work towards achieving it. In furtherance, Mr Elumelu commended the effort of the Commandant, National Defence College Nigeria, Rear Admiral Adeniyi Osinowo in providing the platform for interaction that was geared towards challenging individuals and encouraging researches.
Explaining how lack of strategic leadership is an impediment to poverty eradication, he stated that in spite of what it is being called; lack of good leadership is one of the reasons behind socio-economic challenges. “Call it lack of strategic leadership or lack of purposeful leadership which is one of the reasons we have socio-economic challenges and we need to address this fundamentally”, he advised.
Earlier in his office, Rear Admiral Osinowo while welcoming Mr Elumelu to the College acquainted him with the activities of the College which he described as an apex strategic military training institution not just for Nigeria but the whole of Africa. He explained that the College has participants from Ministries, Departments and Agencies, African Countries and around the World. Moreover, he asserted that the College has the Centre for Research and Strategic Studies, which he said is a strategic based research Centre. In his words, “we also have the Centre for Research and Strategic Studies that engages in strategic research apart from the regular training of participants. In addition, one year research programme is being conducted by the participants”, he further explained.
While giving his remarks immediately after the lecture, the Commandant observed that the lecture was geared towards the socio-economic democratization of not just Nigeria but the whole of Africa. He then commended the guest lecturer for a simple but well delivered intellectual lecture that attracted thought provoking interactive session with the participants.
