EFIWE EXCLUSIVE: Lack Of Leadership Skills, A Major Impediment To Effective Leadership Among Student Leaders - Gift Agboro On The Ideal 21st Century Leaders

Meet Gift Agboro, a Law graduate from the University of Ibadan. She's also the Founder of G7 Initiative(a mentorship initiative for emerging African Female leaders) and a Leadership and Personal development enthusias.

In a quick chat with Gift, the young CEO talks about Leadership, The Ideal 21st Century Leaders, Nigerian Student Leaders and many more. Gift who have been in the Political scene for the past 4 years believes that "Student leaders who run for political positions (with good intentions) due to lack of skills find it hard to deliver and invariably ,they leave their followers high and dry with no impact."   

Read Full Interview Below:


Can We Meet You? 

My name is Gift Agboro, a recent law graduate from the University of Ibadan. A Leadership and Personal development enthusiast and the Founder of G7 Initiative(a mentorship initiative for emerging African Female leaders)

Tell Us about 'The Ideal 21st Century Leader? 

The Ideal 21st century is the theme of the Leadership Clinic Program,I and my team are currently working on for Student Leaders in the University of Ibadan. To equip and train them in core leadership skills to enable them lead effectively and become better persons invariably


Why is the Ideal 21st Century Leader program only meant for Student Leaders?

Student leaders holding positions are our core target audience, however, it isn't restricted to them. We understand that leadership or leading is not limited to positional leadership, hence the program is also open for interested persons who want to horn their leadership skills or just want to develop themselves.

What's your own definition of Leadership?

I see leadership as the ability to inspire, motivate and lead a group of people to achieve a desired result.

How many of you are in the Leadership Clinic Team?

My team is made up of 16 awesome people cutting across different departments, gifted with strengths and strengths to push this through.

Is the Leadership Clinic program only meant for Students Leaders in UI or for every Student Leader in Nigeria at large?



The end goal is to replicate this program in other Nigerian Universities, but we are kickstarting this in UI. However, we have noticed interests from other schools such as Unilag, Lautech etc
  
What's the Vision behind the program 'The Ideal 21st Century Leader'?

The Vision behind the program is to groom (with skills and practical experience) Students leaders in tertiary institutions to become better leaders. We understand the role of Leadership in our country and as such believe that if at the grassroot,leaders are well groomed, there would be a ripple effect when such leaders invariable hold positions in government

Do you think the Leadership Clinic program can also be beneficial to Youths who inted to run for a political position in the Nation?

Yes,it is and will be. From the applications received and from online master- classes ,we have organized for our intending participants, we have been able to evaluate and notice that 60% of them have a keen interest in politics and leadership in general. Hence, this program, I can say will be of great benefitsto them

What's your say about Students Leaders in UI? Do you think some of them lack inexperience in handling political posts?

Hmm, having spent 5years in UI and also having been involved in the political scene in UI, I can say that most people who run for political positions (with good intentions) due to lack of skills find it hard to deliver and invariably ,they leave their followers high and dry with no impact.

 While seeing others who have been able to deliver if you notice are the ones who have given personal time to self development-this explains self leadership. They have been able to lead self before leading others.


While we have quite a number of them who just want to occupy positions,for bad intentions, with little or no core leadership skills.hence, we hear of mismanagement of funds etc

A quick question, How did you cope running G7 Initiative and studying Law during your days in UI?

Oh , I had passion for both, so it wasn't really hard for me. Plus, I have a great team at G7 initiative and very supporting friends. I knew how to manage my time also

I want to develop my Leadership skills, how can I apply and register for the program? What are the steps I have to take?

Oh great! Just 3 simple steps: 1. send your name, email address and number to- +234 705 927 3532 or 08035908257 (2). Afterwards you pay the participation fee, then (3). You get an access link.

 If I may ask, how much is the Participation fee?

#3,000 (per participant) and #2,500 for a team of 7 and above. which covers feeding for 3days, certificates and your access to the program.

Wow that's cool. So where would the program be taking place?

Inside the university of Ibadan, exact venue would be communicated to participants who have followed the three steps.

What are your plans in the next 2 years?

With regards to the Leadership Clinic program, my team and I intend to register our presence in at most 5 other Nigerian Universities by establishing Leadership Clinic Club.

Talking about the Leadership training, what modules would be taught?

Practical facilitations would span from:
-Emotional Intelligence
-Peace and Conflict Resolution
-Team building and Ethics in Leadership
-Project Management
-How to raise funds and build strategic partnerships
-Design Thinking and problem Solving

There would also be a social challenge for our participants

Which Facilitators would we be having at the Leadership training?

Victoria Ibiwoye of  One African Child Foundation

Timi Olagunju, Mandela Washington Fellow and Founder of Youths-in-Motion


Femi Taiwo of Leap Africa

Lanre Daniels of Ladaar Consult



Emeka Ossai, Mandela Washington Fellow, Founder of Campus Labs and Convener of Wake up and Smell the Cofee


What's your say on the Ojo Aderemi-led administration and the Students' Union?

Lol, this issue is quite a controversial one at this time in the University of Ibadan, so I would rather not say anything about it. As we are all entitled to our opinions. I hope you understand.

Any words for Student Leaders out there?

Student leaders/youths in general are the future and the hope. Thus, let's all strive in becoming better leaders and persons by investing in ourselves and truthful to our cause as leaders.


Thank you for gracing this Interview.


You welcome. You can follow our page on Instagram @Leadership_Clinic for more updates.

About “The Ideal 21st Century Leader” organized by Leadership Clinic Team.


This is a 3day-non residential boot camp for Student leaders in the University of Ibadan. It was originally designed for positional leaders that is executives at the Faculties, Departments, Halls of residence and executives at student-led organizations.

However, because, we understand that leadership in itself is not limited to those occupying positions, this program was extended to interested participants who would want to horn their leadership skills.

The Leadership Clinic team believes that being a positional leader in the University demands quite a number of skills and accurate knowledge in being effective in that position. Most times, when people run for positions, there seem to be one or two lapses which often atimes leaves the followers high and dry without no accountability. While the personality of such a positional leader could be the issue, other times there just needed the right sets of skills, tutelage and knowledge in becoming effective leaders and invariably better persons.

Thus, the aim or vision behind this program is to create a rallying point where student leaders would be trained and mentored by seasoned professionals on core leadership skills and etiquette which would further equip them to lead effectively, become accountable to their followers, manage conflicts better , make sound decisions which would lead to the betterment of their society; in this case the betterment of the lives of their followers.
This first edition, is a three day boot camp (non-residential) where registered participants come in the morning and leave for their respective houses thereafter.

Asides facilitations on different modules such as: Emotional Intelligence, Peace and Conflict Resolution, Project Management, How to raise funds and build strategic partnerships, Team building and ethics in leadership, Corporate leadership, Design thinking and Problem solving- all these and many more are core skills that the ideal 21st century leader should possess to lead effectively and deliver results.


Asides practical facilitations, networking and mentorship opportunities, participants would be engaged in a “social challenge”, where participants would be shared into groups to work on a social problem using University of Ibadan as a case study and proffering solutions to this said problem.


Dates for this program are: 13th, 14th and 21st of April and the Venue would only be communicated to participants who have successfully registered for the program.



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