By Olasunkanmi Akoni & Monsur Olowoopejo

Lagos—Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has said that Nigeria requires public office holders, political leaders with managerial acumen and competence in order to steer the affairs of the state aright, especially in the present economic recession of the country.

Oshiomhole made the remarks yesterday, at the closing ceremony of the 16th National Women Conference in Lagos,themed, “Strong Family, Strong Nation,” which was also attended by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State and his Kebbi State counterpart, Atiku Bagudu.

Oshiomole stated that for the country’s democracy to further progress, citizens must often consider the competence of the public office holders before giving them their mandate.

According to him, “Nigeria must move away from the tradition in which one has to be celebrated a politician before he could be eligible to get any political office. What the country needs at a time like this is someone with skill, managerial acumen and competence for the post.”

He stressed that unity of Nigeria is important to all regardless of its diversity, saying, “The strength of the country lies in its diversity and the challenge of the political leadership is how to service the diversity.”

The governor therefore, urged Nigerians not to allow the recession challenge weaken the family unity, describing family as critical unit of the society.

Oshiomhole continued, “There is no better way to build a nation than to bond its people together. We need to begin to work hard to impact the right family values on our children even as we move to cope with the challenges of offices.”

Speaking on the theme of the conference, he said that the intervention of Governor Ambode was not only reducing traffic and fuel consumption, but was also bringing back the good times of family bonding as travel time has reduced, hence, husbands and wives do not have excuse of traffic to get home late or leave very early.

Earlier, wife of Lagos State Governor, Mrs. Bolanle Ambode described the state of family in the country as a time bomb waiting to explode, positing that, “We need to recognize the need to run and address the issue immediately by firming up the building blocks of our individual families.”