By Emmanuel Asuquo

DIRECTOR of the Pan Atlantic University, Prof. Pat Utomi, has said that the reward of true leadership was not the size of a leader’s bank account but the legacies left behind.

Utomi who spoke in a keynote address at the 2015 edition of “Youth Connect” summit at the University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos, said that despite his global fame, the late Nelson Mandela was not as rich as most African office holders even as Mandela was immortalised in the hearts of the people the world over.

He said that holding public office was not synonymous with leadership, stressing that office holders only had political power which was not a sustainable way to achieve great feats, but influence.

Utomi held that when people use power to coerce other people to follow or obey them, it turned out to be ”malicious obedience” which in most cases was short lived.

Noting that young people were leaders of today not tomorrow since youthful age connotes energy; he admonished youths and other participants to develop their capacity and sense of service, which he described as important factors for leadership. “To lead you must know and to know is not to have certificate; as there are too many certificated illiterates,” he said.