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Africa Must Groom Future Leaders - Kufuor |
| Source: |
afriquejet.com |
| Source Date: |
Saturday, October 30, 2010 |
| Focus: |
Institution and HR Management
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| Created: |
Nov 01, 2010 |
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Lagos, Nigeria - Ghana former president Jo hn Agyekum Kufuor has
said African countries should groom their future leaders in all spheres
as a way of over coming leadership challenges confronting the
continent.
'Unless the African society takes pains to nurture and groom future
leaders, like is done in other parts of the world, we will continue to
have leadership problems,' he said on Friday in Lagos, during a lecture
organised by the Tony Elumelu Foundation.
'Political leaders must
go through a systematic nurturing that will expose them to different
aspects of public administration so that they can learn the rope before
getting to the top level of governance,' he said.
'We also need
to groom leaders at the private level. It is when there are synergies
between public-private partnership that the much needed development in
Africa can be ach ieved,' Kufuor added.
The Foundation is being
promoted by Tony Elumelu, the former Chief Executive Officer of United
Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, one of Nigeria's leading financial
institutions.
It seeks to focus on building business leadership
and entrepreneurship across Africa through mentoring, advocacy,
fellowships and grants, among others.
While commending the
initiative of Elumelu in setting up the Foundation, Kufuor said the
continent was in dire need of political-economic transformation that
could only happen through sound decisions which would encourage
businesses and entr e preneurship to grow.
Elumelu told the
gathering, comprising top company executives, professionals,
non-governmental organizations and civil society organisations, that
Africa has the exposure and the intellectual capacity.
'The
continent is well blessed with human and material resources. What we
lack is the right leadership and the capacity to process these raw
materials into finished products. We belie ve with the right leaders,
Africa will achieve a lot,' he said.
'We believe the most
catalytic engagement that can transform Africa is through a process of
mentoring future leaders that can serve as change agents and make the
difference in our society. Good leadership, at both the private and
public sectors, is very germane to the continent's progress. Just one
right decision by a leader can lead to major transformation,' Elumelu
said.
The former bank chief, who open a branch UBA in Ghana seven
years ago, said the success story of the bank in Ghana was as a result
of the right decision taken by President Kufuor during his tenure.
Under
Elumelu's leadership, UBA has evolved into a leading African financial
service institution. He transformed the bank from a single country
focus, into a Pan African one which now serves over 7 million customer
accounts in 18 African countries and operates across three continents.
Also
speaking at the ceremony the Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Wiebe Boer,
who was recruited from the Rockefeller Foundation, said he would help
harness the economic and human potential of Africans to improve the
continent.
'The Elumelu Foundation wants to drive the
transformation of Africa. We want to build a Foundation that will focus
on solving the 21st century problems confronting the continent,'said the
Dutch-born expert in African history.
The Tony Elumelu
Foundation has part of its objective the promotion and celebration of
excellence in business management, entrepreneurship and leadership
across Africa. It is an independent not-for-profit institution,
established in 2010.
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Africa Must Groom Future Leaders - Kufuor Lagos Nigeria - Ghana former president Jo hn Agyekum Kufuor has said African countries should groom their future leaders in all spheres as a way of over coming leadership challenges confronting the continent
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