Institute for National Transformation, a non-governmental organization created to transform families, organizations, communities and nations to their highest levels of achievement is celebrating her 10th year of existence this September.
At a special media conference held last Friday at the organization’s high-brow office located at Lekki, Lagos, Rev. Juliet Ovie-Binitie, a Director & Senior Facilitator with the institute relished with excitement as she took time to showcase how the organizations’ activities in the last ten years have been congruent with her core values and vision.
She explained that the institute’s vision of vertical transformation of minds to their highest level of performance has been achieved largely through the deployment and re-enforcement of the core values of Responsibility, Integrity, Compassion, and Excellence. These four key values merged together to form an infectious acronym- RICE, have molded thousands of leaders who stand out for their responsible actions, integrity in character, compassion in outlook and excellence in program execution.
In his address, the Director- General and Founder of the INT, Prof. Vincent Anigbogu revealed that the vision of transforming families and nations that effectively gave life to the Institute for National Transformation was cast on September 15, 2007.
He explained that after the Lagos office was created in 2008, the INT had to establish training centres in seven other countries to attain the desired global vision. The countries are Uganda (in 2008), Kenya (in 2009), Atlanta, USA (in 2009), South Africa (in 2009), Rwanda (in 2010), the UK (in 2012), and Cote d’Ivoire (in 2012).
Encouraged by the remarkable success of the last ten years, Prof. Vincent Anigbogu declared that the Institute for National Transformation has decided to scale up her training to generate greater impact across the nation. In the words of Prof Anigbogu, “we have set a goal to train 21,000 Nigerians across all sectors starting from January 2018, because, we believe that societal change must be driven by a people who are resilient and responsible; who can provide quality service and mentorship marked by patriotism, love, strength and faith, and people who can live in Peace, Unity, and in Prosperity within a nation where Justice and the Rule of Law prevails”
According to the Director-General, a lot of preparation has gone into this project. The Institute, he highlighted, has developed and tested different training programmes, inculcating key national values for different groups like Schools, Government organs and Parastatals, Religious Institutions, Non-Governmental Organizations, Military and Para-military Organizations, the Business Sector and those in the informal sector.
Prof Anigbogu stated that the Institute would be partnering with the Federal and state Governments, the Private Sector, Educational Institutions and International Organizations to raise funds to run the programmes.
The Director- General also took time to speak on one of the popular courses that the Institute offers – the Oak Seed Executive Leadership Course. Participants of this unique programme meet two days in a month for six consecutive months over which 30 lecture topics on national transformation are presented and discussed. The participants study books such as From Third World to First World by Lee Kuan Yew- the Late Former Prime Minister of Singapore; Good to Great by Professor Jim Collins; Fifty Years of African Independence by Martin Meredith, and other inspiring leadership books.
In the words of Prof Anigbogu, “we have just completed our 32nd Cohort in Nigeria this month. Overall, over 1,500 participants have gone through this course across the eight nations where we have training centres since 2008”.
Responding to questions on the dearth of quality leadership in Nigeria, Prof Anigbogu explained that the lack of civility and propensity for corruption that brought Nigeria to this level of quagmire cannot be repaired by the same mindsets that took us into it in the first place. The solution, he stressed, lies in training and re-training to create a mind shift for everyone in a leadership position.
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According to Prof Anigbogu, “if our leaders are trained to grow the required skills and character sets, to develop a bigger vision that will have far reaching implications for the society, then they will be authentic, patriotic, skilled and bold in taking initiatives and responsibilities that will build the country. That is really our commitment at the Institute. Leadership training is key,” he asserts.
