The lack of competent, capable, and committed leadership is the bane of communities, societies, and countries in Africa. Put differently, a 30.37million sq.km land that is blessed with immense natural resources that make it the envy of other peoples elsewhere, is, regrettably, severely afflicted by poor leadership. A guru in Leadership training, John C. Maxwell posits that ‘everything rises and falls on leadership’. He is right, as proven by sorry state of Nigeria.
It is axiomatic that a nation rises, thrives, declines, and falls on the quality of its leadership. As it is of nations, so it is with its constituent parts –family, communities, associations, and so on. The unhappy consequence of the toxic leadership that abounds all over Africa is that, by all the indicators of development, the continent is the least developed part of the world. The Holy Book says that it is only when the righteous are on the throne that the people rejoice.
Good, or more precisely, transformational leadership, is the most urgent need of Africa. Alas, there are just not enough good men and women who are able, ready, and willing to serve not for the highest good for self, but for the highest good of the greatest number of their people.
If, as they say, the future belongs to the youths, it is only wise to prepare them now, to be able to make it better than the present. Against the background of, as well as concern about this saddening situation, the St. Augustine’s’ College Old Boys Foundation (SACKOBF), a body recently founded by some alumni of the college chose to begin early to instill leadership skills into the students of their alma mater using the youth-focused ‘iLeadTM’ training course designed by the John C. Maxwell Foundation.
In a catch-them-young move to develop leaders for today and tomorrow, SACKOBF requested and obtained technical assistance from the world-class leadership training organisation, the John C. Maxwell Company, to train the staff and over 600 students of St. Augustine’s College, Kabba in the art and real life application of leadership skills for now, and the future. Appropriately, the theme of the course is ‘Developing Tomorrow’s Leaders Today.’
The training, although designed to take off with the 2025 school year, was formally launched on Tuesday, 10 December 2024 in the school by the chairman of the 9-man Leadership Development Committee, Francis Onaiyekan (1973 set), a CMD- certified trainer who has, among other specialised skills, significant experience in Leadership training.
Besides the students and staff, officials of the local government council, the chairman of the Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) were in attendance as special guests at the event. So too were principals of neighboring colleges in the hope that they may find the programme worth introducing in their schools. Preparatory to take off, every student and staff of the school had been given free of charge a copy of the 256-page iChoose iDo course manual.
On Tuesday, January 14, 2025, the students of the school began to take the ‘iLead’ course in Leadership that will equip them to lead first themselves (as the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo once said, only men who are masters of themselves become easily masters of others), and in turn lead others today, and in future. The training is a collaboration between the St. Augustine’s’ College Old Boys Foundation (SACKOBF), and the John Maxwell Leadership Foundation but fully funded by the former while the latter provides the educational and technical support. It runs one topic a week through 24 weeks.
Prior to taking off, John Maxwell Foundation officials had conducted virtual training for selected staff of the college who in turn would use the activity-focused format of the manual to train the students in both theoretical and practical aspects of leadership.
Each of the 24 modules of the iLead leadership training is taught every Tuesday from 2.30 pm to 4.00 pm under the coordination of the Vice Principal (Academic), Titi Olaosebikan. School Principal, Emmanuel Abolusoro (1984 set) and SACKOBF Administrator, Peter Ajayi, jointly provide overall supervision. Onaiyekan also monitors the progress of the training, including requesting periodic written report.
The first topic for the first two-hour session on January 10, was ‘Choices’. At the time of writing this report, the training was in its sixth week on the topic “Character is a Choice”. Students and other interested participants are taught that integrity, honesty, and moral strength are not just traits they inherit but deliberate decisions they make daily. It is further suggested that, regardless of circumstances, they have control over their actions, attitudes, and ethical standards.
‘iLead’ Leadership Course is designed by the John Maxwell Leadership Foundation to raise young people for local and global leadership. As an empowerment course purposely packaged for youths across nations and cultures, it has been run also in schools in Nigeria, as well as in other parts of the world. It should be quickly added that this foundation is part of the John Maxwell Company, a globally-acclaimed organisation for training in Leadership founded and headed by John C. Maxwell, arguably the most influential expert on training aspiring and active leaders in all fields of human endeavour.
Leadership training and skills acquired from youth can make a great difference in the life of the individual as well as affect the fate and fortune of the group and society. As a youth-targeted course, the iLead training manual, sub-titled iChoose, iDo consists of 24 topic/chapters grouped into two sections: iChoose (16 topics) and iDo (8 topics).
Section 1 titled iChoose’ dwells on connecting ‘Values and Leadership’ and consists of sixteen topics that discuss the participant’s personal values and how these align with or deviate from the universally accepted leadership values and, in turn, the capacity to lead. It ranges from ‘Choices’, ‘Attitudes’, and ‘Character’ through ‘Responsibility’ ‘Courage’, and ‘Influence’ to ‘Priorities’, ‘Self-discipline’ and ‘Resilience’. Section 2 titled ‘iDo’ is made up of eight topics and teaches participants how to connect ‘Action and Leadership’. It poses self-evaluating questions such as how participants ‘thoughts’, ‘values’, ‘priorities’, ‘friends’ ‘influence my actions’. Each chapter is a module of theory and practical on a specific topic and laced with relevant quotes from John Maxwell’s fount of knowledge.
To be continued tomorrow.
Onaiyekan, is a member of The Guardian Editorial Board. He is also on the SACKOBF Board and chairman of the Foundation’s Leadership Development Committee.
