Prof Olusola Oyewole
PROFESSOR OLUSOLA Oyewole, Secretary General of the Association of African Universities (AAU), has attributed Africa’s numerous problems to the lack of visionary leaders.
Prof Oyewole, who was speaking at the first graduation ceremony of the Sundoulos Advanced Leadership Training (SALT) Institute in Accra over the weekend, on the topic: “The Quest for Transformation Leaders in Africa,” called for the establishment of specialised leadership universities on the continent to train and build transformational leaders for development.
According to Prof Oyewole, leaders needed special training to equip them with the right competencies that would enable them find innovative solutions to the continent’s prolonged problems.
“Africa needs transformational leaders and for us to have transformational leaders, let us start to build specialised leadership universities and promote the teaching of transformational leadership,” he said.
“As you know, I come from Nigeria. We have specialised universities. I was Vice-Chancellor of a University of Agriculture. We have universities of Technology. We also have specialised universities for Medicine, specialised universities for Education.
“It’s high time we encouraged the emergence of specialised universities with a focus on training and building the leaders who will bring about the desired transformation in our land,” added Prof Oyewole.
Prof Oyewole also called for a change in the curricula of universities across the continent through the inclusion of transformational leadership education as well as restoration of African history.
He commended management of SALT Institute for its commitment to leadership training in Ghana.
“I believe that the SALT Institute is just beginning and very soon, we shall see products of this Institute transforming our continent in education, in politics, in media, in social services, among others,” he said.
He also urged the graduands to be the change the continent had yearned for, to facilitate development.
Dr. Fatima Alabo, Rector, SALT Institute, said the institute was driven by firm resolve that the better years of the African continent laid ahead.
She said the Institute was happy to be part of the systematic enterprise of raising the next generation of transformational thinkers and servant leaders for the continent.
“We firmly believe that the academic enterprise of the SALT Institute in Ghana will help close the leadership gap in Africa and return our beloved continent to its divine status of wealth and glory on the global stage,” she said.
Emeka Nwankpa, Chairman, Board of Trustees, SALT Institute, said the institute was convinced that its human capital efforts would produce a new breed of servant leaders whose application of solid biblical principles would impact systems of governance and leadership across the continent.
A total of 15 students from two programmes were awarded Master’s Degrees by the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), the mentoring institution, on behalf of the SALT Institute.
They included nine Master of Arts in International Relations and Diplomacy (MAIRD) and six Master of Arts in Leadership and Management (MALM).