Kaduna Govt’s Kashim Ibrahim Fellows Program: A Training Ground For Future Leaders, By Mukhtar Maigamo

Youth have doubtless become the world’s focal point, and interestingly the Nigerian population is bulging with young people. But, the groundswell of public opinion about the present crop of the Nigeria’s Youth (occupying the largest chunk of our population composition) in the country is the disturbing fact that they lack the necessary rudiments for leadership skills and are mostly disinterested in the public service.

And the consensus is that if the trend continues, the next generation of leaders that will come on stage would be the ones that will not make the country any better than they’ve found it. And for any conscientious mind, this is a matter of serious concern given the fact that more than half of Nigeria’s population are below the age of 40.

It is against the backdrop these foreseeable challenges that Kaduna State Government under the amiable leadership of His Excellency governor Nasir Elrufai, introduced a Leadership Training Program for young Nigerians across the country. The program with a name “Kashim Ibrahim Fellowship Programme” (named after late Sir Kashim Ibrahim, the Governor of the Northern Region) is set to commence in the August of this year. The programme’s objective is to cultivate the future leaders of Nigeria. “The one-year programme aims to create a network of high potential young Nigerians who are expected to rise to top leadership positions in the public sector and other spheres of activity over the next decade”.

 According to the governor, the general mission of the program, is “to raise the next generation of leaders who will most likely be absorbed into the Nigerian public sector having had a first-hand experience of its workings and challenges”.

However, on the 27^th of June, 2018 the governor himself unveiled the first set of 16 successful candidates who passed the rigorous selection process, and seven of these 16 Fellows are females. Also half of the successful Fellows are residents of Kaduna, while others are spread across other parts of the country. This tells much, as it depicts the underlying principles of governor Elrufai on giving a fair chance to each and every Nigerian youth to showcase his abilities, to contribute to the development of the state and the country.

For long, the core belief and idea of his Excellency is to create an environment that will attracts the Nigeria’s best and the brightest. Many examples are abound on how young people who pass through his tutelage excelled in their various fields of endeavor. Today youth are the engine room of Kaduna state government. The governor is surrounded, as always has been, with panoply of young people (with the writer inclusive) whom he mentors.

In order words, the Kaduna State Government House of today, is just a Leadership Training College of sort, where young people are placed in each and every office as Technical Assistants and Special Assistants. They see how executive briefs are made, they sit side by side with the governor in his cabinet office and get au fait with the inner workings of the Executive.

But it has to go beyond that. There is need to have an institutional framework that can serve as a platform where young people acquire leadership training and skills. It is within the context of the foregoing, that the Kashim Ibrahim Fellows Programme is conceived “to develop and nurture leadership ability across Nigeria, with a specific focus on the        promising leaders      of      the          future”.

The Internship is a one-year program, and is structured in such a way that the Interns would be drilled meticulously from one spectrum to another. The program has four basic components that the Fellows must ride through. These are: Work Placement, Education Program, Community Service and Fellowship.

 It means that they will be placed in the MDAs of the state under a Senior Government Staff or Cabinet Member. They will be involved in the designation and drafting of memos and also implementing policies of government. Apart from that, they will also be in a study trips, holding interactive sessions with accomplished personalities, and attending quarterly seminars a la Aspen Institute. This will affords them the opportunity of understanding both the theoretical and practical aspect of governance and politics. It will also sharpen their skills and broaden their capacities. While they immersed themselves into the heart of government they will surely get a fascinating insight of the nature of administrative/bureaucratic processes and procedures.

But above all that, this program seeks to instil in the mind of young people, an interest in public service. It seeks to disabuse their minds of their old perceptions of public service. Our youth of nowadays formed a very bad notion of public service. They feel it is a place for old people that is why today the workforce of the Nigerian public service has an aging demographics, sadly, because young graduates prefer to work in the blue-chip companies. Our academic institutions produced, yearly graduates with wellspring of intellects and expertise which in no doubt will add to the adequate advantage of any  government organization  they find themselves in, but they only go to the public sector as their last resort. This of course must be a serious challenge to the government of the day.

This is the idea of governor Elrufai, to get youths across Nigeria to give them training in leadership, expose them to the inner workings of public service; the bureaucratic nature of it, structures, roles and responsibilities hoping that it will whet their appetites to pick up public service as a career.   

It is also the governor’s wish that other leaders in the country will provide a similar platforms that will exploit and harness the potentials of talented youths and equip them with leadership skills. This will also go a long way in preparing them for future leadership.

Lastly, it is our hope that in the next few years or decade Kashim Ibrahim Program would be transformed into a veritable platform for grooming not only Nigerian leaders but African leaders.

Mukhtar Garba Maigamo,

Special Assistant to the Governor of Kaduna State on Public Affairs