The President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olumide Akpata has commented on what he thinks is the problem of Nigeria, attributing the problem of the Country to self interest and selfish primordial progression and not policies.

The President said this in an interview with Arise TV, while commenting on the Panel session held for presidential aspirants at the ongoing NBA-AGC.

According to the President, the session went well and despite the fact that it wasn’t planned to be a manifesto day or anything of that sort, he was glad that candidates were able to speak about their plans for Nigeria.

Remarking on his takeaway from the session, Akpata stated that he related with what Hon. Justice Umadi, the Candidate from APGA who stated that Nigeria suffered from the problem of self interest. “For me that’s the problem, that’s the bane. Self interest is the issue”. He said

In his view, Akpata stated that we all know this is the problem of Nigeria and there is no need beating around the problem in trying to identify the problem, but it was best to begin to address these issues and this was what he took from the words of some of the candidates. His words were thus: “As Vice President, Atiku mentioned it really is not about rehashing the problem. We know the problem. I was quite happy to hear from Justice Umadi that one of the things that he would ensure that he would do is to eliminate self interest because if we begin to think Country, if we begin to think what’s best for the majority against selfish primordial considerations, we would go far”.

Mr. Akpata went on to state that he was impressed with the candor, forthrightness, and that he was happy to hear the candidates concede that the issue isn’t about policy, laws or its absence but state that issue is about leadership and implementation.