By Foster Akpore
EFFURUN, Delta State: Dr Otive Igbuzor, founder of the Centre for Leadership, has described the leadership school as the most impactful of the numerous development initiatives he has undertaken, saying its greatest strength lies in its ability to produce leaders who will in turn develop others.
Igbuzor made the assertion recently during a question-and-answer session on “What is Leadership?” at the inaugural class of the Value Rebirth-Centre LSD Leadership School in Effurun, Delta State.
Responding to questions on whether the number of people being trained by the leadership school was sufficient to change the leadership narrative in Nigeria, Igbuzor said the school’s strategy was based on multiplication rather than simply increasing the number of direct beneficiaries.
“From this school alone, we’ll produce 897. Our expectation is that the 897 will go and produce others,” he said.
According to him, the real measure of the school’s success would be determined by what graduates do with the knowledge and experience acquired.
He noted that some participants could complete the programme, improve their personal circumstances and fail to share what they had learnt with others.
“So our approach is a multiplication approach. We don’t know when we are going to produce the critical number. But we just continue producing until something will happen,” he said.
Igbuzor also drew a distinction between transactional and transformational leadership, arguing that although there was nothing inherently wrong with leaders meeting the immediate needs of their followers, leadership that remained at the level of “come and chop” could not produce the kind of society Nigerians desire.
“You can be transactional and also be transformational, but it’s possible for you to be transactional without being transformational,” he said.
He explained that the leadership school had established alumni networks across several cities, including Warri, Abuja, Benin, Port Harcourt and Jos, while graduates had also formed a global network.
According to him, the networks were increasingly taking ownership of the leadership model by organising programmes and initiatives independently.
Igbuzor challenged the inaugural class to see itself as part of the multiplication process rather than waiting for the organisers to produce all the leaders required to transform society.
He urged participants to replicate the leadership school model in their communities, noting that the organisers were prepared to provide the materials and share the model.
“You have the material. We are giving you the material. Know the model. Get lecturers who will come and teach,” he said.
He said the long-term aspiration was for graduates of the leadership school to rise to positions of significant public responsibility, including becoming governors and commissioners.
“Our vision is that at one point we will have a governor who is an alumnus of this leadership school,” he said.
On the question of impact assessment, Igbuzor said the organisation conducted annual assessments of its classes and graduations, adding that testimonies from graduates demonstrated the practical value of the programme.
He cited the presence of graduates across the public and private sectors, including political appointees and other professionals, as evidence of the school’s growing influence.
In a separate response on whether the outcome of the programme justified the investment, Igbuzor said the recognition he and other facilitators received from graduates had become a recurring indication of the programme’s impact.
He recounted instances in which graduates had approached him at conferences, airports and restaurants, identifying themselves as alumni of the leadership programme.
He also recalled how a graduate had recommended him for an international consultancy after concluding that other applicants were not sufficiently qualified for the assignment. The recommendation, he said, eventually resulted in a consultancy engagement worth more than N20 million for himself and his wife.
Igbuzor said such experiences demonstrated that the impact of leadership training extended beyond the classroom and could create professional, institutional and community-level opportunities.
Reflecting on his career, he said he had worked on numerous development projects and held senior positions with organisations including the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) and ActionAid Nigeria, where he served as Country Director and later as International Head of Campaigns, working across 53 countries.
Despite those experiences, he declared that the leadership school remained the project of which he was most proud.
“I can tell you that my greatest work is this leadership school, and I’m very, very satisfied and confident with the results,” Igbuzor said.
He expressed confidence that the impact of the inaugural class would become more visible over time, urging participants to carry the lessons of the programme into their workplaces, communities and wider society.