Follow Us on Google
By Chinelo Obogo
Citadel School of Government which was founded by Pastor Tunde Bakare, has onboarded its first set of 70 participants.
Speaking in LagoS during the induction of the pioneer class of its Advanced Diploma in Public Leadership and Statecraft, Bakare said he is confident that Nigeria is about to experience a new wave of transformative leadership across sectors and a radical opposition to corruption.
“ I am convinced that the first fruit of a unique breed is about to emerge to begin to lead the change Nigeria needs at all levels, from the local to the subnational to the national to the continental to the global.”
Narrating what led to the birth of the school, he said that when he returned to Nigeria, he declared that the next phase of the nation’s rebuilding required the activation of three pivotal sectors: the public sector, the private sector and the social sector.
“It would take nearly a decade before this vision began to crystallise. Its crystallisation began in 2007 at a conference in Atlanta, U.S.A., when I conceived the framework of an institutional vehicle for providing solutions to Nigeria’s developmental problems. The promptings for such an intervention vehicle came strongly to me at the same frequency as that of my call to ministry 18 years earlier in 1989.
“We choose not to become armchair critics, faultfinders with no applicable solutions to our national problems. We choose to train rather than blame, to equip rather than cower in the face of the mounting challenges of our nation and the continent. It is therefore out of these convictions that a compelling vision emerged: Nigeria, Africa, and the wider world need structured, practitioner-driven institutions that can identify, prepare, and empower leaders to rise to the demands of governance in the 21st century. It is this conviction that has ultimately given rise to the Citadel School of Government.
“At the Citadel School of Government, we have a bold and clear vision to become a globally renowned institution facilitating the emergence of cutting-edge nations, beginning with Nigeria. By taking this initial step, we are on course to bridge the leadership gap in public sector governance in Nigeria, Africa and, by extension, across the globe. We will do this by providing current public sector leaders with exposure to cutting-edge tools for continuous development, and by facilitating the mobility of quality leadership from the private to the public sector.”
Speaking during the event, former Minister for Education, Oby Ezekwesili said: “Failure is not our destiny; we simply cannot afford to fail. All existing institutions in our country are struggling, corroded by corruption.
“This continued while people pretended not to see what was happening, until the problem festered and became systemic—even democratized. Everyone says, “If you can’t beat them, join them. But join who?
“This is why he has been relentless about building people up, about creating an army of citizens dedicated to nation-building. Ultimately, no matter how competent you are, if you lack character, you will go nowhere.”
