Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The Olusegun Obasanjo Leadership Institute (OOLI) has begun an intensive long-vacation training for school principals for its Advanced Certificate in School Leadership and Management (ACSLM) programme. 

The founder and chairman of its Governing Board, former President Obasanjo, while addressing the participants at the orientation programme, emphasised the role principals play in the education sector.

The facilitator of the training and Chairman of the OOLI Special Management Advisory Group (OSMAG), Professor Emeritus Peter Okebukola, in a statement issued Sunday, said the training took off with its first cohort of principals and vice-principals from Ogun and Oyo States. 

He said: “You are saddled with extraordinary responsibility and you should discharge this creditably and satisfactorily. This training programme by OOLI has been specially packaged to assist you in achieving this goal.

 “OOLI deploys the global best practice of first finding out the training needs of potential trainees before developing the training curriculum. This is followed by the development of the training materials and then the implementation of the training programme. That way, OOLI will be meeting the needs of trainees rather than conjecturing what their needs would be.”

Okebukola explained that the topics to be covered for the eight weeks include: Attributes of Successful School Principals; History, Current Development and Future of Secondary Education in Nigeria; Managing school safety and security; Strategic planning and vision setting for secondary schools; Financial management and budgeting; and Resource allocation and utilization; among others.

He said the training would be case-study driven, hybrid in delivery mode and practical oriented. 

According to him, “The holders of the prestigious ACSLM of OOLI will come out loaded with knowledge and skills in leading schools that will stand out as models for others in Nigeria and in Africa in terms of efficiency, effectiveness and quality of secondary school leavers.”

Okebukola noted that 25 resource persons including highly-rated Professors of Leadership and Educational Management and retired school principals with excellent service records are among the resource persons for the training.

Also, the Director of OOLI, Gen.  Martin Luther Agwai (rtd), said the training programme was fully aligned with OOLI’s core objective — to equip leaders at every level with the insight, values, and skills required to drive change in complex environments. 

He said that through the programme, they are embarking on a journey that is as personal as it is national in its scope. 

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