Honesty, unquestionable integrity, commitment and passion have been identified as virtues that must be possessed by Nigerian young adolescents if they wanted to build their leadership potentials. They must also be creative and innovative in their thoughts and actions, get inspired and be ready to face challenges as they grow in life.
Making these remarks was the Vice-Chancellor, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Professor Ganiyu Olatunji Olatunde during the City of Knowledge Academy’s 6th Honours’ Day and 2nd Send-Forth Ceremony held at the school hall on Thursday, July 11th, 2019. Professor Olatunde who was the Guest Speaker at the event, advised the students to improve on their skills by getting involved in team activities. He also urged them to admit their mistakes whenever they were wrong and give credit where it was due. He added that as young adolescents, they should work harder and take on responsibilities to develop their leadership skills and be law abiding. According to him they should imbibe patience, be prayerful and above all, be God fearing in their future endeavours.
Professor Ganiyu Olatunji Olatunde who delivered a speech entitled “Character, A Major Pillar In Nation Building: Building Your Leadership Potentials” also proffered solutions on how Nigeria could prepare its youths for nation building.
According to him, government must understand the challenges faced by its educational institutions and tailor its policy formulation and execution to solving these challenges. “Issues of funding, curriculum development, recruitments and appointments must be guided by best practices devoid of interference by governments or its personnel”.
The Vice-Chancellor added that Nigeria educational system should focus on providing quality education by inculcating moral values and nurturing the talents of students to enable them contribute to nation building. Professor Olatunde also emphasized the need for governments at all levels to increase their supervisory roles to educational institutions and constantly assess the curricula of schools in order to ensure adequacy of content that would make students more responsive to behaviour supportive of nation building.
Speaking further, the Vice-Chancellor challenged schools to embrace entrepreneurship and continuously modernize their curricula to align with the needs of stakeholders, solve emerging challenges and build leaders that would be relevant to national development.
As part of the solutions suggested by Professor Olatunde towards preparing Nigeria’s youths for nation building was the idea for schools to harness the contributions of their Alumni associations and development partners so as to increase their funding base because “it has become clear that governments/proprietors alone cannot fund these institutions”.
While making her own remarks, the Head of School, Ms Abiola Lamikanra told the gathering that the event was an avenue to showcase the best of City of Knowledge Academy (CKA) as well as celebrate those students who have excelled during the outgoing school year.
“Today we celebrate not just the Year 12 students who leave the school after the ceremony but also the students who have excelled in various areas of school life. Today, we showcase the best of CKA, founded on the three ethical pillars of culture, character and confidence”. She commended the school founder, Mrs. Mosun Belo-Olusoga for giving back to the society through the establishment of CKA. According to her, “the founder could have used her money for something else. More so, the school was not structured for profit-making considering what she has invested in the school when compared to the fees been paid by the parents”
CKA is a co-educational private secondary school located along Ososa – Ijebu-Ode, Lagos-Benin Expressway. The school aimed at providing excellent academic and leadership training for young minds. The institution is an outstanding boost to the nation’s quest for academic excellence, providing invaluable opportunities in a safe and secured environment for the holistic development of the child.
The founder, Mrs. Mosun Belo-Olusoga is currently the Chairman of Council and the Pro-Chancellor, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Agp-Iwoye.
