Prof Orabueze said this at the Induction/Awards of the Public Administration and Management Development Institute [PAMDI] held in Enugu, recently. She stated that the bane of the present day Nigerian society are “washed down and porous family values, the failure of religious bodies to live up to their responsibilities, and thirdly, eroded societal values”.
“We see parents who do not have time for their children, because they do not know how to marry between their family responsibilities and their careers. The result is that these children are left uncared for. Some parents have abdicated their parental roles towards their children to strangers, though I must admit that child upbringing and training are herculean task, but rewarding, too.
“In Churches and Mosque, today, we see people with questionable means of livelihood being accorded high regard and respect, and being given the choicest and the highest titles. The clergies cannot question their sources of income.
“We have the eroded societal values to contend with. Most traditional rulers confer chieftaincy titles on people with dubious characters. These are things that negatively impact on the public”, she stated.
The Nnewi born Academic, therefore tasked the governing council of PAMDI to use its association as a platform to mount sensitization campaigns aimed at redirecting the generality of the public to the right thinking course.
Earlier, the Vice-Chairman, Governing Council of PAMDI, Prof Emeka Otagburuagu had explained that the objective of PAMDI was to promote excellence in public administration, in Nigeria and beyond, and the mission, to promote values, in public administration.
“We are interested in promoting excellence. We are interested in promoting transparency; in promoting diligence; in ensuring that there is enabling environment for public managers to do their work. The institute has gone beyond Nigeria to overseas. We have held seminars and workshops for public servants in Dubai, recently”, he stated.
In conferring Fellowship Award; Distinguished Community Leadership Award; Acclaimed Youth Leadership and Fellowship Awards to, Prof Florence Orabueze, HRM Igwe [Sir] Spencer C. Ugwuoke [Ksp] Enyiduru 1 Of Obimo, Nsukka, and Comrade Chinedu Ogah [OON], respectively, the Director-General, PAMDI, Dr. Elijah Ogbuokiri [FPAM, FCA, CFA] said that the awards are neither meant for everybody, nor are they for sale.
“They are not given to corrupt public officers, either. They are given to Nigerians who have attained some significant levels in their various fields of endeavour, who have been tested and proven, and trusted.
"We have a committee whose responsibility is to work assidously to fish the best in every field of human endeavour.
"We have a committee whose responsibility is to work assidously to fish the best in every field of human endeavour.
"The awards cut across different disciplines, and the choice of Prof Orabueze for Fellowship Award is especially because of her sterling and laudable achievements both as an academic, as well as her leadership qualities, transparency, humility, doggedness, and straightforwardness in the discharge of her duties both in the classroom, and in her stewardship in the University of Nigeria Press Ltd., and the University of Nigeria Bookshop as the Director of the two very sensitive outfits of the university.