By Chiekezie Emmanuel
The Police Public Relations Officer, Enugu State Command, Superintendent of Police (SP) Daniel Ndukwe, warns student leaders against social vices.
He gave this warning on Friday at the National Association of Nigerian Students Summit in Enugu State.
He stated that the first type of leadership is self-leadership. You cannot lead others if you cannot lead yourself, whether you like it or not. No matter how fantastic your thinking is, if it is not coming from you, you can never lead anybody.
As leaders of students, you have a lot of roles and responsibilities in security. Security is everyone’s business. As a leader, you should be security-wise. I love what you do in the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), where one of the criteria is that cultists are not meant to lead.
I’m delighted with the kind of summit we’re having here, focusing on security, career leadership, and employability. Whatever you will become in life starts today, and what has not begun has not started ending. The moment you have the freedom to become a leader, your status changes.
He emphasized that student leaders should be responsible, even if not for anything else, for the office they occupy and the people who look up to them. I have a little idea to give: security will always be everyone’s business, especially those in leadership.
He expressed the importance of being security-wise, citing his office as a police officer, and stated that if you don’t police yourself very well, you’ll have a bad status in public.
What are you doing in your beautiful corner? When you talk to students as a leader, what do you tell them? Do you shun them against cultism, drug abuse, and substances? Security and good attitude are essential. Attitude, whether you like it or not, will have a carryover in any office if humility is not involved.
I encourage students as leaders to build their capacity so that they can be entrusted with higher responsibilities. I cite the example of the emeritus National Association of Nigerian Students chairman, who was appointed as Special Adviser to the Governor on Student Affairs because of her good leadership impact while in office.
Adding value makes a leader. If you’re not adding value to yourself and the people you’re leading, there’s a problem. I’m happy to see a rapid reduction of cultism in Enugu State, and I believe it’s because some of you leaders have played a good role in entrusting students with our cares as student leaders.
I came here deliberately with the Chairman of the Police Campaign Against Cultism and Other Social Vices (POCACOV), Comrade Samuel Ejike. As leaders of students, please lead by example, lead responsibly, and avoid social vices. Sometimes, the issues you may face while in office will push you to take actions you may not like to take.
Find reasons to do what’s good because you’ll make sacrifices as a leader. Please don’t keep any issues to yourself; make social media your friend, but don’t allow social media to make you a friend because automatically, you’ll lose there.
Post responsibly and share responsibly on social media. The most significant problem we’re having is that some of us don’t know how to use social media handles very well. If there’s a security challenge, please let the appropriate authorities know.
As a leader, you should have a thinking ability. If everyone should take everything, don’t take everything. I encourage you as leaders of universities to make security a top priority. As a leader, it will continue to live with you, and in open and public spaces, take responsibility, do what you can do, know things, avoid social vices, and don’t be carried away.
A leader should be more purposeful and should not be carried away. As a leader, let security and responsibilities guide you in whatever you do.
