El-Rufai: Provide Platforms to Develop Leadership Skills in Nigerian Youths

John Shiklam in Kaduna

The Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, has called on Nigerian leaders to provide platforms for Nigerian youths to develop leadership skills and capacity.

Speaking on Wednesday in Kaduna at the inauguration of the first 16 set of youths who emerged successful for the Kashim Ibrahim Fellows programme introduced by the state government, the governor urged Nigerian leaders to device and sustain ways of building the capacity of the youths for leadership in the public service.

“Most Nigerians are younger than 35 and we owe them a duty to make the necessary investments to enable them to acquire the skills, the steel and the exposure for effective public service.

“The world of today is changing fast, with new challenges and opportunities arising. It is time that we become quite deliberate in building leadership capacity, recruiting the most talented and promoting a meritocratic culture,” the governor said.

According to him, “If we prepare this young people with sufficient rigour, they will be better at helping our people to productively navigate a competitive world.”

He commended the Fellowship’s Governing Board, made up of the Chairman of THISDAY Editorial Board, Mr. Segun Adeniyi, Hakeem Belo-Osagie, Dele Olojede, Hadiza Bala-Usman, Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, Bilya Bala, Barbara Barungi, Japheth Omojuwa, Muhammad Sani Abdullahi, Jimi Lawal, Iboroma Akpana and Kadaria Ahmed for designing a commendable leadership development programme, aimed at producing the next generation of inclusive, patriotic and results-oriented managers of human and material resources in the public sector.

The governor called on the first set of fellows to seize the moment and apply themselves with the energy and wit required to make a success of this opportunity.

The fellows programme, which is named after the late Sir Kashim Ibrahim, governor of the defunct Northern Region, was introduced by the Kaduna State Government in February 2018 as a leadership training platform for young people.

According to the governor, the initiative is to help develop and nurture leadership ability across Nigeria, with a specific focus on the promising leaders of the future.

He explained that the one year programme aims at creating a network of high potential young Nigerians who are expected to rise to top leadership positions in the public sector and other spheres of activity over the next decade.

Six of the fellows are females, eight are residents of Kaduna State, while the rest are from other parts of the country.