David Oyedepo urges leaders to be selfless

Chancellor of Covenant University (CU) Ota Dr. David Oyedepo has advised leaders to be selfless to move the nation forward.

He spoke at the first David Oyedepo Leadership Symposium to celebrate his 62nd birthday at the university’s African Leadership Development Centre over the weekend.

Oyedepo called for a repositioning of minds to achieve change.

He said: “It is thinking about others that makes a leader, thinking the good of others and better life for others. Thinking self only makes slaves. I have a dream that focuses on helping others live. We need a reorientation and repositioning to rewrite the story of, Nigeria.”

Dr. Oyedepo stressed the need for passion in solving societal problems.

He noted that if the leaders have a passionate heart to help others, they would overcome poverty, insecurity, corruption, recession, and others plaguing the nation.

Also, a professor and head of Bioinformatics Research at CU Ezekiel Adebiyi urged youths to be problem solvers, build their credibility, relate with God and pursue their visions to be effective leaders.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Kendor Consulting Mrs. Adaora Ikwuemesi said: “If we don’t have capacity to change as quickly as the environment, then we might as well consider ourselves extinct. We must understand that things happen at a faster and quicker rate in the digital revolution.”

On community leadership, Professor of Demography and Statistics of the university, Gbolahan Oni called on the citizens to follow examples of leadership laid by the CU’s proprietor.

He said attributes of shared vision, leadership by example and listening ears were pertinent in nation-building.

For Mr. Femi Taiwo, director of Eagles HOPE Foundation, “what we need in community leadership are principles, such as heart of service, purpose-driven leadership, visionary action and the ability to leverage technology. A good leader must be able to identify problems of people and proffer solutions.”