Founder of Ausso Leadership Academy (ALA), Austin Okere has said the academy is ready to mentor local government chairmen in the country to help contribute to their communities.
He said the local government administration which is the third tier of government, is important because of its closeness to the grass root.
Okere spoke when Ausso Leadership Academy held its first anniversary event at the Entrepreneurship Hub in Lekki, Lagos.
He said: “What we have done with our cohorts is to have an initiative which we tag #Take5toGiveBack because we know business are benefiting from ALA but business alone does not make a society. Governance is part of the society. So, if a business is doing well and around you the society is not doing well, what says that one day they will not run your business off.
“So, let impact the society. We are not donating bags of rice or sugar but what we are saying is that, let’s go to the business that have been impacted and done well and say each of you, take five local government chairmen or five people that are influential in the local governments and let them come and benefit from the framework of governance.
“Then when they go back to their local governments, they will do the things that’s propel the society to prosperity. Because we know if we bring them here their eyes will open and if we do five for each cohorts, we would have twenty people that can think like you and I and not to think like topical government people because the local government is more important that estate society. But elite Nigerians would compete or contest to be President of Banana Island association and others but all of them is less than one local government.
“So, we are going to mentor the local government chairmen because these are where the people are touched whether it is education, healthcare or maintenance of law, it is in the local governments. Even if you don’t want to go further as chairman, if you can make our local government an America in Nigeria, that is good enough.”
Speaking on the one year anniversary, Okere described it as amazing, a dream which was driven by his teachings at the Colombian Business School 10 years a go.
Speaking at the event, Balogun Collins, a business delegate and one of the graduands said: “We have been to different classes in the country and abroad and non has done what Ausso Leadership Academy has done because this will help the economic growth and sustainability of Nigeria.”
Another graduand,, Okere Victoria, also said the Academy has helped her sharpen her enterpreneural wit. She said: “I came here in like a blunt knife but leaving very sharp to go implement all I’ve learnt.
