Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, has urged Nigeria’s political, business and intellectual elite to take greater responsibility for improving public sector governance, warning that indifference and weak leadership are holding back national development.
Otti made the appeal on Tuesday in Abuja while delivering the keynote address at the 2026 Leadership Conference organised by the Oxford Global Think Tank (OGTT).
Speaking on the theme, “Putting Our Best Foot Forward,” he said sustainable economic growth, social prosperity and national development depend largely on quality leadership, effective institutions and deliberate policy implementation.
The governor argued that poverty, institutional collapse and insecurity are largely products of weak leadership, adding that development requires purposeful planning, effective execution and long-term partnerships.
According to him, the elite have a duty to shape society’s future by creating economic opportunities, encouraging enterprise and ensuring public institutions serve the people.
Otti warned that when influential individuals place personal interests above public service, the result is social alienation, economic hardship and widespread frustration.
He listed corruption, institutional decay, failures in policy implementation, skills shortages in the civil service, resistance to reforms, insecurity and poor infrastructure as interconnected problems stemming from weaknesses in public governance.
The governor faulted the elite for failing to act as guardians of public institutions, noting that the civil service has gradually lost its effectiveness due to political patronage and administrative inefficiency.
He also lamented the collapse of once-thriving national institutions, including Nigerian Airways and the national shipping line, saying their demise led to job losses, lower household incomes and a decline in national pride.
Otti called for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies to strengthen public institutions, track corruption, improve civil service performance, boost government revenue and build public confidence.
He urged participants to explore how technology can support accountability, monitor project execution and deepen citizen participation in democracy.
The governor further stressed that the public and private sectors are interdependent, cautioning that businesses and individuals cannot be insulated from the effects of poor governance.
He therefore urged Nigerians, especially the educated and influential, to abandon political apathy, take part actively in democratic processes and hold public office holders to account.
Highlighting reforms in Abia, Otti said his administration is embracing innovation and technology to improve service delivery across key sectors.
He disclosed that the state is gradually moving to smart schools, investing in renewable energy for health and public institutions, procuring electric vehicles for mass transit, and introducing computer-based examinations for civil service recruitment and promotion.
He added that digital systems have also been deployed for land administration and document management.
According to him, despite resistance to some of the initiatives, the reforms are yielding results, including better performance in public schools, higher civil service productivity and faster processing of official documents.
Otti said his administration issued more Certificates of Occupancy in its first three years than were issued in the previous decade.
He explained that the reforms are driven by the belief that public institutions must continually evolve to meet changing expectations and become more effective.
The governor cautioned, however, that individual achievements cannot make up for collective national failures, pointing to poverty, poor public services, brain drain and growing public frustration as evidence of the country’s challenges.
He urged Nigerians with the capacity to influence policies and institutions to play active roles in solving the nation’s problems instead of retreating into indifference.
Otti commended the founder of the Oxford Global Think Tank, Prof. Arunma Oteh, for organising the conference and bringing together leaders from the public and private sectors to discuss governance, innovation and institutional development.
He said the event offered an opportunity to reassess national priorities and find ways of deploying emerging technologies to achieve sustainable economic and social prosperity.
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