…speaks on success as Africa Leadership Group marks 5 years anniversary.

By Chris Onuoha 

Africa Leadership Group (ALG) founded by the Senior Pastor of the Trinity House, Lagos, Ituah Ighodaloh, celebrated a remarkable five years of pushing boundaries, changing narratives and creating new meaning to leadership and governance in Nigeria called ‘celebrating 5 years of citizen engagement and impact in nation building.’

The special anniversary forum held yesterday, May 29th was an interactive virtual conference of reflections on impacts the foundation made since inception and analysis of democratic process in Nigeria, themed: “The Journey so far and what’s next.”

Pastor Ituah Ighodaloh, expressed gratitude to God for his mercies and the spirit given to him, to initiate a programme that hinged on sensitising the citizenry about the need to choose a right leader, while charging the youth to take politics and leadership serious so that the country will move forward positively. 

Ighodalo in his opening remarks, began with an overview of how the organisation fared since inception, stating the objectives and principles of establishing the foundation and the impacts it has made so far. He relayed a video clips of the organisation’s earlier programmes, that were meant to stimulate quality leadership drive in Nigerian democracy, expressing the importance of ‘things a leader should possess if he or she wants to be a President in Nigeria.’ 

He thanked group members and guest speakers who had done phenomenal well in making ALG programmes a huge success. His reflections on Covid 19 era, among other things, were quite reckoning, summing up the unusual compliance, courage and resilience at which people put within that time, to overcome the surge as it lasted. 

He also enumerated many arms of the organisation that included Nigeria Leadership Series (NLS), a weekly interactive forum that deals with topical issues concerning the Nigeria leadership pattern and the challenges of the democratic process in the country. The forum usually feature guest speakers who dissects and proffer solutions on issues bedeviling Nigeria and how to get the right leadership the country deserves. 

Other programmes are TriAfrica Empowerment Foundation, established to achieve purpose through community engagement and development, distribution of food to communities, educating and informing citizens about governance and accountability. The Youth leadership series is the empowerment and training section that mentors young people who wants to go into politics and educate them on things to know about quality leadership. There are also, other sub series established to tackle societal challenges including gender related issues. 

There was also a slide show of views made by prominent personalities that have featured in the NLS weekly leadership series. These persons include former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan. Others are human rights activists, Dele Farotimi,  Bankole Wellington (Banky W) and lot of others. These personalities with divers diverse opinion reflected on Nigerian democracy and its challenges. 

The forum also took a swipe on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s leadership for the past two years ¼running, xraying the administration’s scorecard and its impact on citizenry. However, most contributors were not in agreement with his boast of positive impact, stating that democracy under his administration has not actually delivered the desired result.

Pastor Sunny Enebi and Jumoke Akin-Taylor, co-anchors of the programme reflected on the achievements of the organisation’s initiative within the five years of its establishment, describing the impacts as positive, with some of the food distribution outreach made within local government areas in Lagos State and other places. Akin-Taylor also mentioned the impacts of the youth leadership training and empowerment carried by the organisation. 

Some of the group members who are consistently regular on the weekly conversational series, such as Prof Nike Grange, Yemisi Ransome-Kuti, Pastor Funke Awolowo including ALG members in the diaspora, all commented how impactful the initiative has been. They all agreed that the foundation’s objectives are very positive while encouraging the public to key into its weekly interactive programmes for more education and information about governance and leadership process.