Former President Dr Goodluck Jonathan has urged world leaders to
aspire to meet their social obligations to those they govern as a
means of minimising conflicts and attaining a more peaceful society.

The ex-President also charged those who lead others to always adopt a
conscience based approach rather than resorting to the dictates of
their ego which, according to him, had brought untold hardship to
humanity across the ages.

Dr. Jonathan gave this advice in key note address entitled ‘Conscience
Based Leadership: The Secret to Global Peace and Security’ which he
delivered Friday at a World Summit holding in Kuching, Malaysia. The
Summit jointly organised by the State of Sarawak and Junior Chamber
International (JCI) has in attendance 700 young leaders from 102
countries.

Noting that conscience builds a society while ego destroys it,
ex-President Jonathan further said: “The best leadership flows from
inspiration and not from power or force of arms. You can only inspire
people when your leadership is governed by your conscience and the
support of the led.

“Power centric leadership is ego based. Looking at human history in
the last 100 years, you would notice that ego based leadership has
brought untold hardship to humanity and set us back decades. On the
contrary, conscience based leadership has again and again, been shown
to be the only type of leadership that can engender world peace,
progress and unity.”

Jonathan reminded leaders that a recent report on the Global Peace
Index indicated that the cost of creating and containing violence in
2016 alone stood at $14.3 trillion which was about 12.6% of world GDP.

“If anything, this colossal effort which is directed at fighting
already lit fires, should tell us where to place our priorities. That
would be concentrating our efforts on those deliveries that make our
people human, keep them safe and cater to their happiness, rather than
spending so much, just to show our might.

Jonathan also used the opportunity to highlight what his
administration did to build a peaceful society, especially in the
areas of education, promoting democracy, economic empowerment and
youth entrepreneurship as well as successful mediations for peace in
the West African sub-region.

He said further: “I had made the point that giving our youth the right
education, providing job opportunities and business skills will help
the world become more secure and peaceful. But beyond that, nations
can significantly reduce conflicts through limitations placed on arms.

“There is no gainsaying the fact that uncontrolled spread of small
arms and light weapons had been responsible for the sustenance of
major conflicts in Africa and other parts of the world.”

Jonathan reminded leaders that a recent report on the Global Peace
Index indicated that the cost of creating and containing violence in
2016 alone stood at $14.3 trillion is about 12.6% of world GDP.

“If anything, this colossal effort which is directed at fighting
already lit fires, should tell us where to place our priorities. That
would be concentrating our efforts on those deliveries that make our
people human, keep them safe and cater to their happiness, rather than
spending so much, just to show our might.

“If leaders were to match their words with action in meeting their
obligation to the people, there is no doubt that we will be moving
closer to the peaceful world we all dream of. But how can we attain
that state when those dictatorial traits including ego,
authoritarianism, supremacy battle, fight for territories and the
tendency to distort existing order, which threaten global peace and
cause wars, are still very much with us?

“Let me reiterate, therefore, that there is no better way of achieving
global peace and security than submitting ourselves, as individuals,
young people, political leaders, organisations and other members of
the human race, to the dictates of our good consciences. That way, we
will be able to build the world that is close to our dreams, and
restore the dignity which God Almighty has given to man as the master
of His creation.”