UBEC officials attend advanced leadership programme at Cambridge University

Officials of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) recently attended the advanced leadership programme of Judge Business School (JBS), University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.

The programme, attended under the Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA) project financed by the World Bank, held in June 2022.

According to the University of Cambridge, the programme focuses on equipping persons in leadership positions with improved knowledge that would help them become more effective.

“This three-week general management and leadership programme provides experienced general managers and senior executives with the opportunity to pause, reflect and gain a fresh perspective in a learning environment second to none,” a message on the programme as published on the school’s website reads.

According to a statement by UBEC, the Nigerian team — led by Isiaka Kolawole, UBEC deputy executive secretary (services) — “which ended being the only African faces in the programme”, also had Adamu Misau, director, finance and accounts; Ossom Ossom, director, social mobilisation, and Ahmed Abubakar, deputy director, special projects and head, coordination support team, in attendance.

“During the programme, participants were taken through the mills of courses like Strategy Under Uncertainty; Inclusivity; Challenges and Options in Economic relations with China; Doing Business in Sub-Saharan Africa; Climate Change; Economics and Governance; Data First Culture; Globalisation, among others,” the statement reads.

“Handled by highly rated faculties of the JBS University of Cambridge, the team was taken through a rigorous exchange of ideas and solutions sessions handled by intellectuals, renowned experts, captains of industry, senior practitioners and peer groups, with the aim of getting participants to learn how to respond to the changing environment of leadership and governance across the globe.”

According to the statement, Kolawole, former economic adviser to the late Abiola Ajimobi, former Oyo governor, said the programme had a significant impact on the participants, in terms of providing them “a wide breadth of perspectives in strategic leadership and governance, current trends in global management of strategic national concerns, as well as cutting-edge knowledge across science, technology, economics, politics, business and management”.

The UBEC deputy executive secretary, on behalf of the participants, also thanked the federal government for the opportunity.