Obasanjo chairs panel to mentor future African leaders

Africa’s poor record of public sector governance has taken the front burner, as former President Olusegun Obasanjo leads a seven-man panel to mentor the continent’s future leaders.

The mentorship, a brainchild of Africa Initiative for Governance (AIG), is part of many programmes designed to groom future leaders.

As part of the programmes, participants would be trained and issued a Masters Degree in Public Policy from the renowned Blavatnik School of Government, at the Oxford University, United Kingdom (UK).

This was contained in a statement jointly signed by AIG’s Chairman and Founder, Mr. AigbojeAig-Imoukhuede and its Founding Directors, Mrs. Ofovwe Aig-Imoukhuede, Mr. Herbert Wigwe and Dr. Jeya Wilson.

The statement, which was made available to The Guardian, said the foundation “will fund five scholarships each year as part of a new five-year partnership which is based on the shared purpose of building good governance and public leadership.”

Continuing, they said the initiative would bring together “proven private sector innovation, leadership and funding into a private-public partnership to attract, inspire and support future leaders of Africa’s public sector.”

AigbojeAig-Imoukhuede, who expressed confidence in Blavatnik said the school “will become fertile ground for growing future statesmen and women who would change the African continent for good. I encourage anyone who believes that they fit the profile for these scholarships and fellowships to apply.”

On his part, the Dean of Blavatnik School of Government

Prof Ngaire Woods said: “We are deeply grateful to the Africa Initiative for Governance for partnering us. The Blavatnik School of Government shares with the AIG a clear purpose, which is to transform government through effective leadership and better governance.”

Though the long-term objective is to cover the entire continent, the AIG said they intend to start with candidates from Nigeria and Ghana, whose students would study for a Master of Public Policy (MPP) alongside classmates from across the globe.

He stressed that the scholarships is available to those who can “demonstrate academic excellence, proven leadership and commitment to public service and who intend to return to the public sector in Africa after completing their studies.”

AIG added that though the scheme is for Africans, it is only open to those residing on the continent and that they would extend the application to other West African countries if enough applicants were not received from Nigeria and Ghana.