UNIZIK appoints Osita Chidoka visiting lecturer after conference presentation

Former Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka, has been appointed a visiting lecturer at the Alex Ekwueme Institute of Leadership and Innovation of Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka.

Chidoka disclosed that the offer was made by the vice-chancellor of the university, Prof. Bond Anyaehie, following his presentation of a lead paper at the Faculty of Management Sciences International Conference.

The former minister said he accepted the appointment after presenting a paper titled “Governance as the foundation for Africa’s future: Building institutions that convert growth into development.”

In the presentation, Chidoka argued that Africa’s future would not be secured by population growth, natural resources, technological advancement, or economic projections alone, but by strong and trusted institutions capable of translating potential into tangible development.

Drawing from his 2004 article on the Okija shrine saga, he described Ogwugwu Okija as a metaphor for the migration of public trust away from state institutions, stressing that governance is fundamentally about restoring confidence in public authority.

According to him, just as accountancy builds confidence through transparency and accountability, governments must strengthen legitimacy by ensuring that decisions, public finances, standards, and consequences are visible, verifiable, and open to scrutiny.

Chidoka maintained that trust remains a critical component of development, noting that economic growth without institutional credibility often fails to translate into improved living conditions for citizens. “The day we redirect to our own institutions the faith our people once reserved for the shrine is the day Africa converts its growth into development, and its potential into a life its citizens can feel,” he said.

He said the central message of his presentation was that “trust is infrastructure,” adding that institutions can only transform opportunities into security, productivity, fairness, and shared prosperity when citizens have confidence in them.