The Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation has announced the graduation of the AIG Public Leaders Programme Class of 2023, which involved the training of civil servants in the Federal Capital Territory in public leadership skills.
The foundation said in a statement that was made available to our correspondent in Abuja that the graduation marked the culmination of six months of intensive training for 68 public servants conducted by the faculty of the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford.
It added that throughout the programme, all participants underwent rigorous training, culminating in the development of capstone projects aimed at driving transformation within their ministries, departments, and agencies.
It stated that the projects, now in the implementation phase, showcased the participants’ commitment to effecting positive change within their ministries, departments and agencies.
In his opening address at the graduation ceremony recently in Abuja, the Chairman of Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, congratulated the graduating class, noting that those graduates were a step towards building an Africa that could extricate itself from the depths of underdevelopment with capable and empowered public servants.
That understanding, he said, drove the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation’s commitment to partnering with the public service to effect lasting change.
He expressed his gratitude to the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan, for her support of the foundation’s initiatives, noting that it had helped foster robust collaboration within the service and drive better results.
In his address at the ceremony, the Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission, Dr Olatunji Olaopa, emphasised the importance of transforming Nigeria’s public sector to meet the demands of a rapidly changing world.
Olaopa said, “Key to the transformation of the public sector is the emergence of change agents who are motivated, competent, and sufficiently incentivised to push the change management process forward.
“The AIG Public Leaders Programme plays a fundamental role in producing world-class graduates with the urgently needed dose of innovativeness and administrative capacity to become change managers ready to tackle the critical task of guiding the public sector towards genuine service and innovation.”
The Class of 2023 comprised public sector leaders from across Africa, including an additional international participant from Kenya.
The closing ceremony was graced by dignitaries, including the Head of Civil Service of the Federation; the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Tunji Alausa; and permanent secretaries, directors from various MDAs, and private sector partners.
According to the foundation, it has trained over 700 public servants through various capacity-building initiatives, in a bid to nurture a new generation of African public servants.
It stated that the foundation’s drive for the transformation of public service delivery was not limited to capacity building.
“Through collaborative initiatives with the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation in Nigeria, the foundation is driving digitalisation, performance management, and cultural change projects to foster a more efficient and accountable public sector.
“The graduation of the third cohort of the AIG Public Leaders Programme marks a significant milestone in the foundation’s ongoing efforts to empower over 3,000 public sector leaders in the next decade,” the organisation stated in its statement.
