• Governor’s aide marks birthday with symposium, awards N500,000 scholarship to indigent students
String of events organised to mark the 50th birthday of the Senior Special Assistant to Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Administration, Mrs. Titi Oshodi, came to the highpoint, last Friday, with a symposium where issues eroding productivity, strong value ideal and character among millennials in contemporary times were dissected.
What can be done to help young people propel their vision and inspire next generation of leaders on growth ladder?
The audience, comprising tertiary institution students, young professionals in private sector and their counterparts in public service, listened with rapt attention as experienced discussants interrogated the salient issues and proffered practical solutions to bridge character gap.
The symposium with the theme: “Strategic Management: The Pursuit of Better Leadership Impact”, held at the Muson Centre in Onikan, was also attended by Lagos State Governor, his Chief of Staff, Mr. Tayo Ayinde, members of the diplomatic corps, top government functionaries in Lagos and at federal level.
Sanwo-Olu opened the conversation, asserting that the character deficiency observed in the contemporary period resulted from failure of the older generation to influence the young ones with right leadership traits and attitude.
The Governor, represented by Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr. Sam Egube, defined leadership as an interdependence of people on one another for the benefit of all, stressing that a responsive leadership in public sector involved an efficient coordination of intricate relationship between the citizens, the private sector and the Government.
A leader, Sanwo-Olu noted, cannot exist in isolation. He said there must be followers, who are influenced, motivated, directed and guided. The Governor identified three stages of leadership development, saying each level was distinctive based on the manner of accepting responsibilities.
He said: “There is a Baby Stage in which people take responsibility for nothing. They cry and blame other people for the outcome of their personal actions. At the Mid Stage, people make commitment to contribute but not very collaboratively. They deploy their talents and development attitudes to take responsibility that is only for them. The highest level of leadership is Maturing Stage, where people take responsibility for the team or a portion of the society taking up collective responsibility for the benefit of all.
“It is not the actions of leaders alone that make them leaders, but the quality of outcomes those activities produce. In our homes, it is not necessarily more time with our families; it is the quality spent and derived therefrom. The fate of everything in the world, from families to organisations, to communities and nations, depends on leadership. Leadership is the key determining factor upon which everything turns. When leadership fails, institutions and nations fail. When leadership rises to the occasion, institutions and nations thrive.”
Sanwo-Olu hailed his aide for her thoughtfulness in using the occasion of her birthday to inspire young people and equip them with growth formula.
During a discussion panel moderated by Mrs. Folashade Amborse-Medebem, a performance management expert, to examine the event’s theme, co-founder of Sahara Group and All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Rivers State, Mr. Tonye Cole, told the audience that leadership was about embarking on selfless actions for positive development.
“Leading by example and self-discipline are integral parts of a functional leadership. A good leader sees talent and capacity in those he leads and he brings out the best in them,” Cole said.
In her submission, Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Mrs. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, said everyone aspiring to be great leader must show sincerity to underlying vision of their organisation.
Represented by Dr. Bala Yusuf, her Technical Adviser, the former Deputy Governor of Lagos, said quality education was at the heart of equipping future leaders with right leadership. She said her office had achieved integration of key SDGs in policy development and implementation across Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) of the Government to further disseminate the message to the citizens.
President of Nigeria-Italy Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Silvano Bellinato, said integrity is at the base of a working leadership, adding: “a good leader takes responsibility for the outcome of his action.”
Other discussants at the panel included founder of Corporate Shepherd Limited, Mr. Idorenyen Enang, entrepreneur and energy economist, Ms. Joycee Awosika, and founder of SchoolRun Academy, Dr. Bisi Esuruoso.
The celebrant said the theme of the symposium was informed by her growing up experiences over the past 39 years after she lost her father, prompting her to develop resilience strategy in surviving challenging encounters.
Oshodi said the symposium was to raise a call towards creating awareness through family, which she described as lowest development cadre, for cultural education, where mutual respect, confidence and resourcefulness are seen as key pillars of growth.
She said: “Our youths, young ones and professionals in the corporate world, who are every day Nigerians, build grit as they aspire through the hierarchy of needs pyramid to build self-esteem and actualisation. This event, therefore, seeks to establish channels of inspiration by creating platforms for modelling and mentoring next leaders. It is also to support and celebrate moral values and outcomes that foster vision building and trigger aspirations.”
The highpoint was the awarding of N500,000 worth of scholarship to two indigent tertiary institution students struggling with finance. The recipients are Emmanuel Adole, a Theatre and Film Studies student of Alex Ekwueme Federal University in Ebonyi State, and Emmanuel Richard, a Sociology student of University of Abuja.