By Edwin Philip
The immediate past vice president of Nigeria Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has said the public servant leadership initiative of AIG Imoukhuede foundation has contributed in building human capacity in Nigeria and across the continent of Africa.
Osimbanjo made the call at the graduating ceremony of 68 class of the 4th cohorts of the Aig Imoukhuede public leaders program 2024.
Former Vice president, commended the Aig foundation and it’s technical partner Blavatnik school of government, Oxford University and the alumni members of the foundation who over the years has produced four graduants otherwise known as 4 cohorts for exceptional public sector leaders with world class expertise designed by to tackle the complex and rapid growing challenges in the country.
“I have been privileged to deliver the inaugural speech to this very good initiative in March 2022, and extremely proud of the excellent job done so far. In an effective policy making in response to the evolving realities, innovation is no longer optional but, a core function of the government, so regulatory frameworks must continuously respond to new development to unlock opportunities and protecting public interest” he said.
“Today 2016 some young interprenures built a digital payment platform and the CBN however responded creatively by establishing the licensed frameworks to companies like Interswitch, E – payment services Ltd, E-transact offering financial services to many companies like Paga, Opay, Moniepoint, Kuda, palmpay under the supervision of CBN and these companies are valued for over $1b (dollars) he added”
On his part, the Head of Civil Service of Nigeria, Mrs Didi Watson -Jack, pledged the continuous support of the head of service to partner the private sector in the various skills acquisition for national development in other to promote entrepreneurship and human capacity development.
She, however commended the Aig foundation for the unwavering commitment to improving public sector governance in Nigeria and cross Africa in the various expertise.
“Your public leaders program aligns perfectly with our vision of building an efficient, productive, incorruptible government by contributing actively to various initiatives of the Federal Civil Service strategy and implementation plans”
” Your dedication and expertise has been instrumental in advancing key public sector reforms been a testament that Aig foundation and other technical partners has the profound impact on sharpening the future of the Nigerian public service” she added.
Speaking earlier, the Chairman Aig foundation, Mr Aigboje Aig – Imoukhuede said the essence of 6 months intense learning on various public service and application was a quest to build a strong and more impactful continent of Africa particularly Nigeria having the potentials that is yet to be realized.
He added that the core mandate of the public leadership training requires more than intelligence but, people who ready to do what has never been done before requiring their state of mind to make a big impact in the economy.
“When we have inspired you to recognize the power within you, our next job is connecting you with the person beside you who recognizes they have that power as well. The collective powerful of AIG foundation, Blavatnik school of government, Aig Alumni has the power to transform Nigeria to a much better place “he added”
In an opening remarks, the faculty leader, Aig public leaders program from the Blavatnik school of business, Oxford University Prof. Emily Jones said the 68 exceptional graduants from the class of 2024 were carefully selected haven’t demonstrated their full capacity in the various expertise in public leadership administration.
She however added that the initiative has touched so many life’s in positively especially at the public sector aimed at complementing the effort of the government to drive a positive change.