Foundation empowers 52 public servants for commitment to transform public sector

Amidst efforts to build a new generation of public sector leaders to drive change across various organizations, the Aig Imoukhuede Foundation, has trained 52 senior public servants across various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

The Chairman of the Foundation, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, while speaking Thursday at the closing ceremony of the AIG Public Leaders Programme (PLP) class of 2022, offered by the Foundation and the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government, stated that participants had gone through four months intensive training in their bid to build a vibrant public service.

He stated that the PLP is an executive education programme that provides high-potential African public servants with the opportunity to acquire the skills needed to create cultures of excellence, effectiveness, and integrity in their organizations.

He added that the 2022 PLP class, which included its first international participant from South Africa, was made up of 52 public servants, carefully selected from government different MDAs.

Delivered through a blend of rigorous online and in-person classes, he said the programme equipped the 52 programme graduates with the knowledge, tools and conceptual frameworks they need to meet the challenges of public sector leadership in a fast-changing world.

According to Aig-Imoukhuede, the Foundation’s partnership with Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, was a means of ensuring that the future public sector leaders have access to world-class training, which would give them the skills and knowledge they need to be effective leaders.

He congratulated the graduands and enjoined them to use the learnings they had gained from the programme in their various places of work.

The chairman however urged the private sector to recognize the important role the public sector plays in national development and encouraged more support for the reforms of the public sector.

In his Keynote Address, former Chairman of, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, said that many governments, including Nigeria, have not given adequate attention to recruiting, training and mentoring capable executive employees to become good leaders.

Jega, who spoke on “Public Sector Leadership in Times of Crisis”, noted that generally in the contemporary world, times of crisis are challenging for everyone, including citizens, especially those in leadership positions.

He noted that managing or resolving these crises requires certain leadership skills, character traits and thinking abilities.

He however expressed hope that the activities of organizations, such as the AIG-Imoukhuede Foundation may serve to sensitize governments and begin to make them alive to their responsibilities.