The immediate past chairman of the Subsidy Reinvestment Programme, Dr. Christopher Kolade has said that he puts his reputation on the line by accepting to chair the SURE-P committee.

He stated that this while speaking at the 6th Christopher Kolade Symposium organised by the Nigeria Leadership Initiative, NLI in Lagos.

Kolade said despite persuasion from close associates, relatives and well wishers not to accept the job, he staked his reputation by accepting it in order to show leadership and to prove that Nigeria needs such courage from good individuals to make things work.

He said that that was why he chose to serve in the committee without remuneration.

“Many people warned me against taking up the role of chairing the SURE-P committee. They didn’t understand why I should accept to do it. They were worried about my reputation but I said to them, that whoever wants to destroy my reputation must first of all destroy me. So I had to accept the job because I want to continue to ensure that things work in this country,” he said.

While commending NLI for sustaining the programme, Kolade said conversation around value based leadership as exemplified by the NLI is a sign of optimism for Nigeria and must continue.

He therefore challenged all Nigerians especially young people to take personal responsibility for the leadership change in the country, as according to him, “We want a better Nigeria and people are burning with a passion for a change,” adding that “Nigeria has had it much better than now in terms leadership.”

Earlier in an opening remark, the Chief Executive Officer of NLI, Yinka Oyinlola said the symposium was instituted to honour while inspiring the emulation of the life of Dr. Kolade who has served Nigeria selflessly.

Also speaking, former Managing Director of Bank of Industry, Ms Evelyn Oputu while giving a brief history of Nigeria noted that Nigeria’s woes started when the pre-colonial Royal Niger Company sold Nigeria to Britain for £686, 000. She said Nigeria, a hundred years after, has yet to recover from the effects of being run as an enterprise whose people do not matter beyond their economic value.

She therefore called for measures that will enthrone the ownership of the country’s productive asset to make Nigeria work and really become free.

The symposium which was themed: ‘Nigeria at 100 and the next 100’ also featured a panel discussion on challenges of leadership in Nigeria.

Members of the panel included the founder of Rise Network, Toyosi Akerele who among other things advocated an overhaul of the reward system in the country in order for the young generation to believe in merit.

“The private sector should invest in the reward system in order to elevate the thinking level of our children,” she said.

Another panellist, Zainab Usman, a freelance writer and researcher in the University of Oxford, United Kingdom stressed the need for more intergenerational and across the class divide communication to address some of the leadership challenges confronting the country.

On his part, Linus Okorie, President of the Guardian of the Nation International, also a panellist hyped on the need, “for grooming the leadership capital for Nigeria if the country’s leadership is ever to work.”