…Slash leadership programme cost by 87.5%
By Chinelo Obogo
The Citadel School of Government (CSG) has entered into a partnership with the University of Lagos Business School (ULBS) to launch an Advanced Diploma in Public Leadership and Statecraft, offering pioneer students a 87.5% tuition subsidy.
During the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Wednesday in Lagos, the founder and board chairman of CSG, Pastor Tunde Bakare, said the tuition was reduced from the N4 million value to N500,000 which is payable in two installments, to make quality governance education accessible to more aspiring leaders. He said the partnership will combine ULBS’s faculty and CSG’s network of practitioners from different sectors including political leadership, civil society, public administration, and corporate strategy.
“This moment represents the institutional realisation of a vision birthed more than seven years ago when I became burdened by the glaring gap between Nigeria’s governance challenges and the leadership capacity available to solve them. The governance academy we briefly piloted under our registered NGO, “The International Centre for Reconstruction and Development” seven years ago, provided the curricular foundation for approaching the University of Lagos with a robust framework for the Advanced Diploma in Public Leadership and Statecraft.
“This framework has been further refined and tailored for excellent delivery through the academic expertise and institutional support of the University of Lagos Business School. While ULBS provides top-rated faculty with national and global recognition, we at the CSG will supply practitioners from the world of governance, from political leadership, civil society, public administration, corporate strategy, and more, so that our students are not only taught but shown the path by those who have walked it. To make this dream accessible, we are offering 87.5% subsidised tuition to the pioneer class, reducing the ₦4 million programme value to just ₦500,000.00 payable in two installments,” Bakare said.
While speaking, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola, spoke on the significance of the programme’ noting that public leadership sets the tone for national development. She said that while the programme initially targets those already in leadership positions, its principles taught can be applied to every area of life.
She said: “This advanced diploma in public leadership and statecraft is important, because public leadership really sets the tone for what we do in the country. We also need it in the private sector because we are all governing in our spaces. This is a course for everybody, because what it is teaching are the principles of leadership, which can be applied everywhere.
“I want to say that we are very proud to be joining with the Citadel School of Governance, because it speaks to what the University of Lagos does. We’re shaping the future for the children we have that are born now, and those that are going to be born. If Nigeria is to stand, then we need transformative leadership. We need servant leaders, and we certainly need ethical leaders. Nobody is perfect, but we need everybody to be focused on the Nigerian story.”