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Former Minister of Education Oby Ezekwesili has said Nigeria’s leadership recruitment process has been designed to keep people of character out of the political system, creating a culture where bad behaviour is rewarded and good behaviour is punished.
Speaking in an interview on News Central’s 60 Minutes with Mr Kay on Friday, Ezekwesili said the failure of leadership recruitment does not mean Nigerians inherently lack character.
“I think that first we must dismiss the idea that the failure of our leadership recruitment process means that we are inherently a people that lack character, as in Africans lack character. That must never be what we say to ourselves,” Ezekwesili said.
Ezekwesili said the processes for leadership recruitment have been “designed in the image of those who have held the levers of power.”
“Fundamentally, when they hold the levers of power and they design the processes of leadership in the way that erects barriers against people who have character, then you will have a tendency to see that the political culture then becomes one where a lack of character is actually an advantage,” she said.
“The processes for leadership recruitment have in many ways been designed in the image of those who have held the levers of power.”
Economic policy expert @obyezeks says Nigeria’s political system rewards bad behaviour.
Watch the full video here: https://t.co/phl41RQntO pic.twitter.com/p3DZ1RAo1K
— News Central TV (@NewsCentralTV) August 21, 2026
“So because that is the case, what has happened is that the people with character have been kept outside of the political system.”
She added, “When you have that kind of a distortion where bad behaviour is what your political system rewards, there will be a market for bad behaviour. And then good behaviour is punished. And after a while, the people now see that the lines are blurred.”
Ezekwesili said Nigerians are struggling to understand why values have not been rewarded across society.
“So Nigerians are struggling to understand why you talk values when actually values have not been rewarded across the spectrum of society. Look at it in the manifestation of policies,” she said.
“So you find people who are trying to be productive. They don’t make it. The ones who are unproductive, the ones who are doing things like influence peddling, you know, just, you know, bouquaniers of the country, the ones who are rentiers, rent seekers.”
Ezekwesili cited the Niger Delta as an example of failed governance, noting that the region accounts for more than 90 percent of Nigeria’s export earnings and more than 80 percent of the national budget, yet remains underdeveloped.
“That that region needs to be a region that is so well-developed in order to enable the people of the Niger Delta have the opportunity to expand their household income. It hasn’t happened,” she said.
