NGO identifies leadership mentorship as key for succession

By Stanley Onyekwere

A Non Governmental Organisation (NGO), JAM Initiative, has organised a leadership mentorship programme for Information Officers, in order to ensure effective successorship module in the public service.

Founder of JAM Initiative, Mrs. Josie Mudasiru, who’s also an Assistant Director of Information in the FCTA, says the idea behind the project was to impact knowledge and experiences gathered over the course of time working as a civil servant into younger employees of the FCTA.

Mudasiru, noted that mentorship is necessary to curb some of the challenges confronting the society, and also transmit values usually from older persons to younger ones.

“The inspiration for this programme started last year when I realized that in a few years from now, some of us will be leaving the public service, and there is the need to pass down the knowledge one has gathered over the years to the newly employed staff of public relations department. This is important so we do not leave a void in the public service when we leave”, she stressed.

The keynote Speaker at the event, Mrs. Inimfon Etuk, who shared some of strategies that guarantee success, urge Public Relations Officers, and other professionals to identify and emulate mentors in order to build effective successor plan for their organisations.

Etuk, who is also an Executive of the Nigeria Institute f Public Relations (NIPR), asked the mentees to daily build themselves for higher responsibilities by fueling their desires to want to do more achieve more and emulate mentors.

He adds: “Because we don’t succeed alone as individuals, we grow on the shoulders of others, we need to identify those we need for where we are going, those with the skills set that can support our journey to where we want to see ourselves.”

The Acting Director, FCTA Department of Reform Coordination and Service Improvement, Dr. Jummai Ahmadu, who was a guest of honour at the event, pointed that mentorship is very important in every segment of society including the public service.

In her words, “It’s very important because if you check our society today so many of our values are being eroded, people don’t take their careers serious again because they feel no one will notice whatever input they bring to the work place. They need people they can really look up to so mentoring should be taken more seriously across all professions.”

The virtual programme, which lasted for four months, culminated in a face to face meeting where mentees, mostly drawn from various Secretariats, Departments and Agencies of the FCTA, with about 5 of the participants are from the private sector, were able to meet their mentors one on one, which organisers said the programme is expected to continue so many more new employees can also benefit.