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From Priscilla Ediare, Ado-Ekiti
A cleric, Rev. Tunde Afe, has said Nigeria will be a better country if its leaders can fully harness the potentials of the people they lead and make them the centre point of their policies.
Rev. Afe, who is the Senior Pastor of House of Faith Christian Centre with headquarters in Ado Ekiti stressed that leadership is about the people who must also be carried along in the scheme of things.
He spoke at the Annual Public Lecture/Luncheon of the Ekiti State Chapter of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM) where some distinguished personalities were honoured for the contributions to human development.
Delivering a talk entitled “Smart Leadership: Achieving Strategy Through Leadership and Innovation,” Rev. Afe posited that leadership goes beyond personal attributes but it’s about ability to influence others to get positive results.
Rev. Afe, who is an expert in leadership development, urged leaders at all levels to be humble enough to acknowledge individuals who are more talented than them to help them in getting results to the overall benefit of the system.
He said: “A leader must be able to influence and harness the potentials of others. Managers and leaders are not the same; managers manage things, leaders lead people.
“In fact, it’s not leadership until people are involved because leadership is all about people. A leader makes the light of others to shine; true leadership recognizes that even though this person is junior to me, he has the skills that I do not have.”
In his address, the state CIPM Chairman, Mr. Sola Ogunmiluyi, said the forum was also organized to emphasize the importance of Human Resources profession and practitioners both in public and private sectors.
Ogunmiluyi said: “The purpose for this is to reiterate the prime position of Human Resources (HR) profession and practitioners in our various organisations.
“No doubt, the importance and strategic roles of HR practitioners and professionals in any organisation cannot be over-emphasized especially in this era of professionalism in the Nigerian economy.
“I enjoin them to belong to a reputable professional Association like the CIPM to make them more vibrant, more effective and more efficient for organisational goals and service delivery. For information, CIPM stands for quality and integrity.”
The President, Governing Council of CIPM, Mr. Mojeed Olusegun, who participated at the forum virtually urged members to be up and doing in their various organizations with a promise to support progressive branches whenever the need arises.
Olusegun added: “We are capable of bringing to the table, we are eager to visit more Heads of Service and CEOs of states to showcase our value propositions and value actualizations.”
Some personalities who bagged the association’s Outstanding Leadership and Positive Impact Awards included the Ojurin of Ijurin Ekiti, Oba Joachim Adeyemi Afolabi; two former Ekiti Heads of Service, Dr. Gbenga Faseluka and Mr. Deji Ajayi; two former state CIPM Chairmen, Dr. Omojola Awosusi and Pastor Akinjide Akinleye.
