A former speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara and the vice chancellor of University of Abuja (UNIABUJA), Prof AbdulRasheed Na’ Allah and others have mentored students from selected schools in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to become good future leaders.
The mentorship programme was organised by the University of Abuja Leadership Centre to nurture a new generation of leaders equipped with an understanding of the demands of the service of the public good.
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The Abuja Leadership Centre at UNIABUJA is a Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) Center of Excellence in Public Governance and Leadership, established in January 2021 against the background of the crisis of public governance and leadership that is pervasive across Africa.
Speaking at the event, Dogara commended the Centre for its efforts towards inculcating in the children leadership skills, saying that every progress in society is brought about by good leadership.
To be good leaders, he tasked the students with always developing their talents. According to him, “If you don’t develop your talents, you will fall. Everything in life has to do with the choices you make.”
He also urged them to put discipline at the centre of what they do, have a vision, and never stop learning, while saying that teamwork is another fundamental characteristic of a leader.
“Leadership is important because everything you see is about leadership. It is leadership that creates wealth. In the absence of leadership, there can’t be a beautiful gathering.”
For his part, Na’ Allah said the Centre of Excellence in Public Governance and Leadership at the University of Abuja is one of the most popular centres all over Nigeria, supported by TETFund.
He said, “Abuja Leadership centre is embarking on a training. We believe that when we train you we will consciously develop in you great leaders for Nigeria, that Nigeria will be lucky to have this problem of leadership eliminated once and for all and forever.
“We will keep you. You will be with us until you are at the university. You will permanently be part of the University of Abuja and we will follow your progress in whatever you become because we are doing it for our country. It is high time one university stands up and there is no other university to do this than the University of Abuja.”
Also, the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Benjamin Kalu, who was represented by Hon Toby Okechukwu said the issue of leadership is germane.
“If you don’t have clarity of purpose, you won’t be able to do anything; that is why your devotion to mentor people and to come up with demands of leadership is quite instructive,” he said.
The director of the centre, Prof. Philip Afaha, said the students were brought to be mentored in order to become great leaders of the country.