Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Major-General Ike Nwachukwu (rtd.) has called on graduates of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru to do more to impact Nigeria's development as a nation.

Speaking at the recent presidential dinner for graduating participants of senior executive course 34 of the institute in Abuja, Nwachukwu, who is also a graduate of NIPSS, said Nigeria has yet to really benefit from the potentials of the institute even with its about 1,523 graduates occupying strategic offices and various government policy formulation agencies in the country.

He spoke in his capacity as the chairman of the occasion where he faulted Nigeria's continuous economic decadence irrespective of its inherent human and material resources.

According to him: "With an imminent number of its graduates increasing to 1,590, the National Institute was set up as an institute for policy and strategic studies to ensure that the development of Nigeria is even planned but I just wonder if we have actually lived out the dreams of our founding fathers with our numerous members across the country.

"We have members occupying key positions in government and private set ups yet we have a country that is in dire strait. Have our strategies actually worked? Have our policies worked for us? We should ask ourselves these questions, we should ask ourselves we have got it right because we cannot go on like this in the country."

Nwachukwu further noted: "Our country is in a bad shape, our value system is ruined and all our social frameworks are gone yet we sit here as members of governments that had come and gone and the one that exists. The impact we are getting is not getting us to where we should be and I think as members of this institute, we should be concerned especially with our numbers in high places."

He asked that a fact-finding research on the impact of the institute be conducted to ascertain the contribution of its members to Nigeria's economic and social growth, adding that the country would be better with greater contribution to governance by graduates of the institute who are trained in policy formulation and strategic application.

"We should do a research to determine if NIPSS has done enough that is required of it in developing the country; the institute has got the capacity to churn out tested policy makers that could move the country forward," Nwachukwu noted.