Nigeria, June 25 -- Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one. - Marcus Aurelius

Over the weekend, I attended my children's graduation ceremony, where I realised that our national malaise has deeply infected private educational institutions. While time-wasting protocol is common at government functions, I was dismayed to see it thriving in a private school setting.

At a typical three-hour government event, half the time is spent acknowledging dignitaries and exhaustively reeling out their past and present positions. Ironically, speakers rarely bother to state a single line about how these individuals actually impacted education or any other sector during their tenures.

Having been involved in numerous public fu...