• Seeks robust engagement of technocrats over nation’s woes
• Faults federal character principle, existence of SAs
The national president of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) Alumni Association, Olorogun Sonny Kuku, says the country direly needs a new thought process for her to make a headway, saying prevailing attitudes by leaders and followers are anti-development.

In a chat with The Guardian at the weekend after the association’s well-attended event tagged, “A Night with a Hundred Eminent Akokites”, at UNILAG, Akoka, Kuku enjoined the Federal Government to urgently engage technocrats in solving the nation’s myriad of problems.

While faulting the existence of special advisers and assistants (SAs) in the corridors of power over the years, he submitted that their appointments were needless because according to him, the permanent secretaries, who ordinarily should be technocrats, were fit for that as no one knows government’s policies more than them.

Admitting that there is emergency in the education sector, Kuku advocated for total free education especially from primary to secondary school levels. He stressed that the incentive should not be limited to just tuition but must also include free books, uniform and others that make learning exciting.

He decried the federal character principle in the nation’s law books, saying it compromises merit. Kuku, therefore, made a case for meritorious appointments and deployment of the nation’s best hands in governance and other engagements that have direct bearing on the citizenry.