By Festus Ahon

ASABA—Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State has charged the nation’s leaders to embark on a value re-orientation in the country so as to unlock the vast potentials of the country.

He also urged the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to learn from its defeat at the presidential poll and reinvent itself to provide a robust opposition in the country.

Speaking, weekend, at the second University of Ibadan Alumni Association National Public Lecture titled Good Governance as a Catalyst for Development: The Delta State Experience, Uduaghan said: “The leadership of Nigeria must collectively fashion a new value system. This is because it is the responsibility of leaders to mobilise the people towards effecting the necessary change in attitude.

“It is the duty of leaders to impart a sense of nationalism and patriotism in the people. The leaders have the sacred task of ensuring that there is sincere popular participation in conducting public affairs, rather than indifference, cynicism and apathy. I believe that the key to unlocking the great potentials of Nigeria is to increase popular participation. The people must be involved.”

He called on the ruling class to take the developmental yearnings of Nigerians as expressed in the last general elections seriously, observing that the voting pattern of the elections has thrown a challenge of unification and healing process on the ruling class, especially the in-coming administration.