Otti Tasks Graduates of Abia Leadership Academy on Continuous Learning

Abia State Government has graduated the second batch of the Abia Leadership Academy Trainees, with a charge to them to keep learning.

The Abia Leadership Academy is an initiative of the State government aimed at building a large community of leaders in the State and Nigeria generally.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony, the Abia State Governor Alex Otti, said that his Government designed the programme as a tool to redirect the people to become better citizens.

Gov Alex Otti in a group photograph with the batch 2 of Abia Leadership Academy

“Leadership is the ability to influence and drive outcomes. So, what we actually set out to do here which we will continue to do, is to redirect our people,” he said.

“Redirect our young ones, redirect their vision, redirect their thinking. Gone are the days when our young ones are left to turn out to become thugs, who will be thinking of drugs and other nefarious activities including cultism and things along those lines..

“We are also making a clear distinction in the area of institution building because just behind leadership is the architecture of social strength,” Gov. Otti stated.

The Governor said that each person who successfully concludes the programme would be required to mentor at least one person every month over the next 12 months.

He informed the participants that a digital platform has been created to accommodate all of them for further conversations.

“Our target is to build a large community of leaders who are acquainted with each other as young people and can seamlessly create new front lines of partnership.”

In their speeches, the Chairman of Abia Leadership Academy and Secretary to the State Government, Professor Kenneth Kalu pointed out that the vision of the programme is to build leaders who can create impact.

Kalu thanked everyone who has contributed to the success of the leadership training, noting that by investing in the young ones, the Governor is creating leaders with impact.

Also, a member of the Committee and Chairman, Civil Service Commission, Pastor Eno Jerry-Eze said that Abia Leadership Academy is becoming a movement, adding that the State is intentional about her youths.

Mrs Jerry-Eze said that the State is building the ‘new mind economy’ through the young people and urged the participants to hold fast to all they were exposed to.

Earlier while reading the content of the training, the Lead Consultant and Director of Programme, Mr. Johnson Abali informed that the participants were divided into groups to enable them to participate immensely in the programme.

He thanked the Governor for investing in the future of Abia youths as they have been empowered.

Some of the participants, including Emmanuel Uma, Chibuzor Innocent, Prince Ceazer among others described the training as the best way to prepare Abia for the future.

According to them, with what they have been exposed to, Abia is turning into something that would blow people’s minds and thanked the Governor for giving the opportunity to be trained.