By Kolawole Ojebisi
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has disclosed the rationale behind the establishment of a new leadership institute he named after himself.
The ex-Nigeria’s helmsman maintained that his new Olusegun Obasanjo Leadership Institute, OOLI, is not only an institute, but also a movement aimed to reclaim Africa’s leadership narrative.
He stated this at the formal inauguration of the Governing Board at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) Abeokuta, Ogun State capital.
This is made known in a statement made available to newsmen by Obasanjo’s Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Akinyemi, on Tuesday.
According to the statement, Obasanjo advised board members to be guided by the conviction that Africa’s greatest asset is its people, adding that with the right leadership and collaboration, there is no limit to what can be achieved.
The statement reads in part: “Today marks not just the inauguration of the Governing Board of the Olusegun Obasanjo Leadership Institute (OOLI), but the formal launch of the operational phase of a vision—a vision that has been shaped by my experiences and convictions spanning over seven decades.
“For more than 70 years, I have observed and engaged with the complex tapestry of Africa’s developmental journey. While our continent is rich in human and natural endowments, we have persistently fallen short in translating this potential into sustainable development, peace, and prosperity—largely because of deficits in leadership at various levels.
“ Through the triumphs and the trials, one fault line has remained stubbornly persistent: the deficit in effective, ethical, transformational, inspirational and visionary leadership. This leadership gap has often been the difference between progress and stagnation, between peace and conflict, between prosperity and poverty.
“The establishment of the Olusegun Obasanjo Leadership Institute (OOLI) is one of my earnest responses to this challenge. I conceived OOLI as a platform to raise and strengthen leaders who are not only equipped for today’s realities but also prepared to navigate the complexities of tomorrow.
“Our mission is clear: to equip leaders at all levels with the skills, capability, understanding, technology, values, orientation and vision necessary to transform our nations individually and our continent collectively.”
The statement added:”The OOLI will be a hybrid, though initially headed by a former Military General, it will not be a military organisation but borrow what is good from the military. It is blessed by NUC as an affiliate of Bellstech, but not an entirely academic university. It will copy the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) in some ways but not entirely like NIPSS. It will be unique in every way.”
