Swedish envoy urges electorate to vote out non-performing politicians

AS the nation prepares to elect new leaders, the Swedish Ambassador to Ghana and Nigeria, Mr. Svante Kilander Sunday urged the people to vote out non-performing politicians.
  Kilander reminded that democracy can only thrive when those elected work for the people and meet the yearnings of the citizens. The envoy pointed out  that democracy will thrive once there are democratic institutions in place manned by trusted people who meet the needs of the people.
  Using Sweden as example, Kilander said people will wait for those who did not meet their expectations and vote them out in subsequent elections. He noted that elections provide a platform to deepen democratic ethics and ethos by allowing people to rearrange and replace public office holders who failed to meet people’s expectations. The envoy stressed the need for those occupying public offices to work for their people.
  He stated this while delivering the 50th anniversary lecture of the Department of Sociology, University of Ibadan titled “Breakthrough of Democracy in Sweden: A Perspective.”
 Kilander congratulated Nigeria for successfully containing the dreaded Ebola Virus in the country. He said the Federal Government and the medical teams did a great job to deliver the country from the spread through well coordinated response teams.
  In his welcome address, the Head of the Sociology Department, Prof Samuel Jegede said the world needs knowledge from Sociology in order to provide cross-cultural understanding of issues. According to the professor, there is the need to annex the skills of experts in sociology to provide a holistic understanding of human society and proffer solutions to problems confronting it.
In his remarks, the Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Prof. Isaac Adewole said the institution was ready to partner with the University of Upsalla, Sweden to establish Ulf Himmestrand Institute of International Development (HIID)‎ to foster intellectual exchanges between Nigeria and Sweden.
Emeritus Professor Ulf Himmestrand was the first Head of Department of Sociology, Ibadan in 1964. The VC who announced the institution’s readiness to provide its counterpart funding for the establishment of the institute hinted that it will focus on peace building and international relations, among others.