Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
Governor Alex Otti of Abia State, has directed the Chief Strategy Officer and the Chairman of the Civil Service Commission to work out a template for the training of 1,000 young people between the ages of 16 to 20 on leadership capacity development, character building and self-discovery outside the academic environment.
The Governor also mandated his appointees and Heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the State Government to develop robust training and capacity building programmes for their establishments.
Otti gave the directives at the International Conference Centre (ICC), Umuahia, during the closing ceremony of the 2025 Abia State Quarter 2 Executive Council Strategy Retreat.
According to him, “one central takeaway from the retreat is the importance of training and mentorship which supports individuals to become better versions of themselves, so as to become better employees and subordinates.”
He said: “To that effect, all Commissioners and heads of MDAs are directed to develop robust training and capacity building programmes for their establishments.
“Critical learning areas such as ICT, communication, stakeholder management and value creation in line with the peculiar mandates of the individuals and MDAs should be incorporated.
“Nobody should be left behind and any staff who fails to participate should be reprimanded.
“Clear metrics of assessment are to be developed and outcomes used as part of the relevant criteria for assigning official responsibilities. I expect to get periodic reports on this from various MDAs,” the Governor instructed.
“The Chief Strategy Officer and the Chairman of the Civil Service Commission are hereby mandated to work out a suitable template for the training of 1,000 young people between the ages of 16 to 20 on leadership capacity development, character building and self-discovery, outside the academic environment.
“Training and mentorship programmes will also be extended to young graduates from senior secondary schools and institutions of higher learning,” Gov. Otti stated.
The governor announced that the State Government would establish an academy to facilitate scheduled training for government employees.
He announced plans to extend mentorship and capacity-building initiatives to young people in Secondary Schools and Tertiary Institutions across the state.
“The young people’s training should be made to happen between the first week of August and the second week of September. And this is when the students are expected to be on vacation.
“They should also be institutionalised, conducted periodically, and properly certificated.
“The programme should be structured to transform the minds of the young leaders, expose them to new thinking, and prepare them for the tasks of leadership and service in communities in due course,” Gov. Otti stated.
Otti appreciated the consultants and resource persons who anchored the various sessions of the retreat, particularly, the leadership and members of the Abia Global Economic Advisory Council.
He stressed the need for the participants to apply the knowledge gained from the retreat to improve on their performances and said that, knowledge is nothing until it is applied to achieve superior outcomes.
Participants expressed satisfaction with the quality of the training and the windows it offered them to interact with members of the Abia Global Economic Advisory Council.
