Sanwo-Olu meets 36 finalists for Jakande Academy Fellowship

30 selected fellows to start programme January

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, yesterday, met with the first set of finalists identified for the Lateef Jakande Leadership Academy at the State House, Alausa, Ikeja.

The academy, which officially commences in January 2023, is a leadership and mentorship programme of the state government, with the vision to develop tomorrow’s leaders for public service and governance in Africa.

The meeting with the governor formally ended the rigorous application process, which received over 3,000 applications across the country. The finalists will be pruned to pave the way for the first cohort of 30 trainees.

Sanwo-Olu, who stated that the Academy was initiated with the objective to train and nurture young leaders with right values and leadership skills to build institutions across sectors and make lasting impact on the society, said the initiative focused on leveraging education and mentoring to raise new set of leaders that would sustain the values and legacy of the late Jakande in public governance.

Education, the governor said, was one of the most iconic programmes of the Jakande administration, stressing that the best way to honour the late former governor was to revive his most impactful legacy.

He said: “This leadership academy is part of my donation and legacy to give back, not just to Lagos State, but the entire country. The worth of a leader is not just being a leader, but how many future leaders he can raise. We create this fellowship to be a national project. The late Alhaji Lateef Jakande only governed Lagos State for four years, but he made lasting impression on all the citizens and his name is etched on the minds of everyone.”

Sanwo-Olu said the fellowship participation was intentionally limited to age bracket that had opportunities for future leadership.

This, he said, was to ensure seamless transferring of leadership baton to young people and create a better future for them.The governor said the fellowship would promote diversity and balance gender inclusion, noting that the objective was not to leave any anyone behind in equipping young people with leadership qualities that would transform them to change-makers.

Meanwhile, in her comments, Commissioner for Establishments, Training and Pensions, Mrs. Ajibola Ponnle, said the process through which the finalists were picked was competitive and thorough, noting that the fellows would be taken through rigorous training that would expose them to the procedures of public governance and administration. She said the selected fellows would also have international exposure in the course of the training.