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.
