LEAD PROGRAMME AND ITS POTENTIALS AS A RESOURCE FOR CORPORATIONS IN WEST AFRICA

INTRODUCTION

The challenges facing Corporations in West Africa are globalization and competitiveness.  To this end, they require management team fully exposed to development at the international scene.  Such exposure will enable them to cope with the rapidly changing global environment.  Apart from maintaining top management staff, businesses and corporations in West Africa will require a core of middle level manpower who are well trained and well exposed to development at the global level in order to remain relevant.   The Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD) Programme offers the rare opportunity for businesses and corporations in West Africa for the sourcing of this special class of human capital.

THE LEAD PROGRAMME

The Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD) Programme is a global independent, education and research organization set up to provide continuing professional education and networking opportunities for outstanding mid-career individuals in both the public and private sectors.  LEAD introduces trainees to issues of the environment and development, honing their skills as future leaders who will deal with these problems around the world.  The LEAD Programme is an initiative of the Rockefeller Foundation  of New York.  The mission of LEAD is to create, strengthen and support networks of people and institutions promoting change towards sustainable development – economically sound, environmentally responsible and socially equitable.  The guiding philosophy is based on the ethical value of caring for the planet Earth and all life that it sustains now and in the future.  From its initial member programme countries of Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) of the former USSR, the LEAD International Programmes have expanded to Canada, Pakistan, Southern Africa, Europe, Japan, Francophone Africa, Europe and the United States of America.  LEAD is now active in about 70 countries around the world.

The LEAD Programme combines knowledge of the most current environment and development issues with skills, including leadership and team building, conflict management and negotiation and public presentation – all in a multicultural learning context.  LEAD is currently the largest and most successful initiative on leadership development in Africa with over 300 individual members in over 32 African countries through three Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) based in Nigeria (LEAD-Nigeria), Senegal (LEAD-Francophone Africa), and Zambia(LEAD-Southern Africa)

LEAD also invites, promotes and supports practical initiative in sustainable development.  These initiatives are almost always undertaken in partnership with other organizations and individuals.  The International Secretariat of LEAD is based at Imperial College  Campus, London and is headed by an Executive Director.  The

International Secretariat facilitates the coherent and harmonious operation of the LEAD network, in pursuit of LEAD’s mission and objectives.

The Host Institution for LEAD-Nigeria Programme is the Foundation for Environmental Development and Education in Nigeria (FEDEN). 

The Foundation is a Non-Profit, Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) established in 1991 to promote awareness on the environment and sustainable development in Nigeria and enhance the building of local capacity required to drive the nation’s transition to a more sustainable development.

Each year since 1992, LEAD-Nigeria as a Member Programme of LEAD International follows a commonly adopted set of criteria, select, through an open and highly competitive process, a new Cohort of mid-career professionals from a variety of sectors in the country for the two-year on-the-job training in leadership, environment and development..  Care is taken to ensure that each Cohort of Associates is drawn from a wide range of professional and disciplinary backgrounds, and represents a balance between genders and between different geographical areas of Nigeria.  Applicants must be employed, have demonstrated leadership skills in their profession or in the community or public service, with appropriate academic qualifications, computer literacy, ages between 28 and 40, and be able to work in English Language.  Several organizations both public and private, including multinationals, have benefited from the LEAD-Nigeria Programme through the participation of their staff , (professionals, academia, print and electronic media journalist, NGO staff. bureaucrats and entrepreneurs) . To-date, more than 140 Nigerians have benefited and graduated as FELLOWS OF LEAD.  More than 40% of  LEAD-Nigeria FELLOWS are women, and a good percentage of the FELLOWS continue to record noteworthy achievements in their professional careers and individual advancements.

Also, LEAD-Nigeria has put in motion the process of growing the network to cover all Anglophone West African countries and efforts are being made to identify contact persons in Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Gambia with the intention of recruiting suitable candidates which may eventually transform LEAD-Nigeria into LEAD Anglophone West Africa Programme.

CONCLUSION

LEAD is a unique capacity development programme, and it is hoped that corporations, organizations, businesses, and institutions in West Africa will take advantage of this rare opportunity and send their employees to participate in this unique programme.

TABLE I 

LIST OF EMPLOYERS OF LEAD-NIGERIA COHORTS 1 – 10

(i)   Business

      Multinationals:

      -     Lever Brothers (Nig.) Plc

      -     Nestle Foods Plc

      -     UTC (Nig.) Plc   

      -     Guiness (Nig.) Plc

      -     Coca Cola (Nig.) Ltd.

      -     Mobil Producing (Nig) Ltd.

      -     Elf Petroleum (Nig.) Ltd.

      -     UAC (Nig.) Plc.

      -     Churchgate Group

      -     Dunlop (Nig.) Plc.

-                      Shell Petroleum Development Company

-                      Chevron/Texaco (Nig.) Plc.

       Others

      -     Central Bank of Nigeria

      -     Union Bank Plc

      -     Guarantee Trust Bank Plc

      -     Equatorial Trust Bank Ltd.

      -     Commerce Bank (Nig.) Ltd.

      -     National Risk Fund Plc

      -     Nigerian Agricultural & Cooperative Bank Ltd

      -     International Loss Adjusters (W.A.) Ltd.

      -     Geotrex Systems Ltd.

      -     Environmental Resources Ltd.

      -     African Development Consulting Group

      -     Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN)

-                    John Aina Management Consultancy

-                    Compute-rite Systems Ltd.

-                    Trane Express Worldwide

-                    Con Oil Plc

-                    Nigerian Life & Pensions Consultant

-                    Restral Consulting

-                    Leadway Assurance Co. Ltd.

-                    S & D Group

-                    Adeoye Fowora & Partners

      Associates’ Owned Businesses:

      -     Oefkay Investment (Nig.) Ltd.

      -     Lamid (Nig.) Ltd.

      -     DEE-IY Ltd.,

      -     Balogun, Bamidele & Co.,

      -     U.Ibeh & Associates

      -     Astron ID Systems Ltd

-                    Tory and Associates

-                    Corry Ventures

      Media

      -     Nigerian Television Authority

      -     Guardian Newspapers

      -     Concord Press    

      -     Punch (Nig.) Ltd

      -     Daar Communications (AIT/Ray Power)

      -     Shelter Communications Ltd.

      -     Habitat Publications Ltd

      -     Anglo-Africa (Nig.) Ltd.

-                    Vanquard Newspapers Ltd

-                    Lagos State Television

      Government

-                    Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA)/Federal Ministry

of Environment

      -     Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA)

      -     Osun State Environmental Protection Agency (OSEPA)

      -     Ondo State Women Commission

      -     Lagos State Agricultural Development Authority

      -     Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)

      -     National Electric Power Authority (NEPA)

      -     National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control   (NAFDAC)

      -     Nigerian Prison Services

      -     Federal Ministry of Health

       Academic/Research Institutes

      -     University of Ibadan

      -     University of Lagos

      -     Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife

      -     University of Nigeria, Nsukka

      -     Ahmadu Bell University, Zaria

      -     Bayero University, Kano

      -     University of Maiduguri

      -     Usman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto

      -     University of Benin

      -     Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi

      -     Lagos State University

 -     Ogun State University

      -     Kaduna Polytechnic

      -     Kashim Ibrahim Polytechnic, Maiduguri

      -     Nigerian Institute for Social & Economic Research (NISER)

      -     National Centre for Economic Management & Administration                                                   (NCEMA)                           

      -     Nigerian Institute for Advanced Legal Studies

      -     National Veterinary Research Institute, Vom, Jos

      -     Federal Institute for Industrial Research, Oshodi, Lagos.

      -     Nigerian Institute for Oceanography & Marine Research

-                    Federal College of Fisheries and Marine Technology

-                    Michael Okpara University of Agriculture

      Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO’s)

      -     Nigerian Environmental Study Team (NEST)

      -     Hadeija-Nguru Wetland Conservation Project

      -     Centre for African Settlement Studies and Development (CASSAD)

-                    Medecins Sans Frontiers (Doctors without Borders)

      -     Nigerian Associations of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA)

      -     African Foundation for Development of Infrastructure and Social Services (AFODISE)

      -     Forum for Environmental Protection

-                    Friends of the Environment

-                    Nigerian Environmental Society     

-                    Youth Empowerment Foundation

-                    Your Environment and Health

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