Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Opeyemi Bamidele has described leaders who have failed to use their position  to better the lots of their people as disabled.

Mr Bamidele, who was a special guest of honour at the 2010 Food Fest of Caleb British Academy, Ikeja, Lagos Tuesday, said the blind, the deaf and other physically challenged persons in the society were not disabled and underprivileged per se. According to him, those who are truly underprivileged were our leaders who could not see the need to change the conditions of the people they are leading.

The Commissioner said the essence of power was to use it better and ensure the quality of lives of Nigerians by putting in place policies that would deliver the dividends of leadership. “ Leadership is not all about leading. It is also about trying to understand the yearnings and aspirations of the people and being able to respond to their needs.”

He called on the leaders to descend from their olympian height from which government tend to operate in the country and feel the pulse of the people. He said Lagos State government has demonstrated this by relating with the people including those in rural areas and by partnering with the private sector in turning the state around.

Mr Bamidele however, commended the management, staff and students of Caleb British Academy for organising the programme which he described as well packaged, well planned and worthy of emulated. He pointed out that learning was not all about studying but included exposure to different cultures and different ways of living around the world.