The Secretary General of the Association of African Universities, Professor Olusola Oyewole, has called for the establishment of specialised leadership universities in Africa.
Such educational facilities, he contended, will help to train transformational leaders for the development of the continent.
Delivering a speech as the Guest Speaker at the maiden graduation ceremony of the Sundoulos Advanced Leadership Training (SALT) Institute, Prof Oyewole noted that Africa’s numerous problems are due to the lack of visionary leaders.
Prof Oyewole said like any other profession, leaders are required to undergo special training to equip them with the right competencies.
This, according to him, would enable them to 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.
“As you know, I come from Nigeria. We have specialised universities. I was Vice-Chancellor of the 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,” he noted.
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 the reintroduction of African history.
He commended the 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 graduates to be the change the continent has yearned for, to facilitate development.
On his part, the Rector of SALT Institute said his outfit is driven by a firm resolve that there are better days ahead.
Dr Fatima Alabo said the Institute is 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.
Mr. Emeka Nwankpa, Chairman, Board of Trustees, SALT Institute, said the Institute is 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.
“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,” he said
A total of 15 students from two programmes were awarded Masters Degrees by the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), the mentoring institution, on behalf of the SALT Institute.
They comprised nine Master of Arts in International Relations and Diplomacy (MAIRD) and six Master of Arts in Leadership and Management (MALM).
