Chief host, chair of the occasion and Vice-Chancellor, Lagos State University, Prof. Lanre Fagbohun, identified corruption as the greatest challenge against the nation’s development aspirations and admonished youths, particularly university undergraduates, to serve as vanguards in government’s fight against corruption.
Prof. Fagbohun noted, “Whether at continental, national, corporate, institutional or personal levels, corruption dwarfs developmental aspirations and erodes brand image. Unless this malaise is frontally confronted, Nigeria, nay the African continent, will continue to be enmeshed in image and credibility crisis and the desired societal and national development will be a pie in the sky”.
While delivering the lecture, Badejo-Okusanya, a consummate public relations practitioner and foremost marketing communication consultant noted, “Corruption is a worrisome political, social and economic phenomenon that has blighted all aspects of the Nigerian society and it is primarily responsible for the stagnation and underdevelopment of our country despite its huge potential.”
Badejo-Okusanya decried societal obsession for affluence without commensurate hard work, which he claimed, “has made a large number of Nigerians, both inside and outside the country, to devise ingenious ways of accumulating wealth through dubious means”.
He added that students should equally purge themselves of this negative attitudinal baggage if they must make a positive difference in the nation’s quest for a just, humane and corruption-free society.
He noted further that corruption is not limited to corridors of power, but extends to all spheres of life, including the academics, private sector and even non-governmental organisations.
According to him, “The politicians entrusted to protect the common patrimony of Nigerians steal the country blind. Government workers drag their feet and refuse to give their best. Organised labour, including university lecturers in public institutions, go on indefinite strikes on a whim while journalists accept brown envelopes to turn the truth on its head”.
In this wise, he called on students to shun examination malpractices as a starting point to a successful fight against corruption in the country.He appealed to a large number of staff and students from different faculties who filled the auditorium to desist from all corruptive tendencies, adding that the war against corruption could only be won when everybody in his or her little corner decides against the evil.
While welcoming the guest lecturer earlier, Dean, LASU School of Communication, Prof. Rotimi Olatunji, declared that LASU is proud to be associated with Badejo-Okusanya, who he described as one of marketing communication finest experts on the African continent, and an epitome of integrity. Prof. Olatunji opined that the faculty’s focus in the 2016 Annual Guest Lecture is aimed at sensitising students of communication to their constitutional and patriotic role of safeguarding moral probity, transparency, good governance accountability.
Other dignitaries present included immediate past Dean, Professor Lai Oso and other eminent academics of the institution.
