| Interview ...Anyone that wants to participate in government must make an upfront commitment not to sell his or her values once in power. It takes courage to be able to say no when everyone else is saying yes. 14 June 12, 2022
Interview | ALERO AYIDA-OTOBO Alero Ayida-Otobo is a Transformation Strategist with an invaluable understanding of sector-wide reforms in Africa. She is passionate about reforming educational and health systems which are key to National Development and transforming individuals and institutions. Her desire for education reform began when she served as a Senior Adviser and Transformation Task Team Leader to a former Minister of Education in Nigeria in 2006/2007 after over 10 years in the Financial Services Industry. A graduate of Somerville College, Oxford University, and the London Business School, her purpose is to “create wealth in Africa through the development of Human Potential. She is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the School of Politics, Policy and Governance (SPPG) – & is on the board of several organizations including the Chair of Slum2School Africa. She is a British Chevening Scholar and has won many awards and most recently the GlobalWIIN Award - global exemplary education double gold winner. Congratulations on your book - Reformers Arise, please can you tell us more about the book, what inspired it, its purpose and what readers should expect to learn from reading it? That’s a very good first question. Starting with what inspired it, I worked in the private sector (Banking) for thirteen or fourteen years and then returned into the public sector by serving the Minister of Education, Dr Oby Ezekwesili. After I served her for about ten months as one of her transformation task team leaders, she went to the world bank to become vice-president while I stayed back and served about three or four ministers. During this time, the question I kept thinking about is why people like Dr Oby effortlessly delivered on the mandate of being a minister of education – she was GOOD at what she did! There were other ministers not just in education but in the entire civil service of Nigeria – both at state and federal level who failed in making impact whatsoever in their sector of assignment after serving their four years. So, I began to wonder what enables a leader to succeed and why do other leaders fail. By this I mean not just leaders in the business sector but specifically leaders who are nation builders i.e., leaders who are in the public sector and are meant to be impacting their nation. “Why? Why do leaders fail?”. The second question I had in mind that inspired me to write this book and go on this journey of discovery was “what will it take to shape the continent of Africa?”. It bothered me that the statistical reflection of our development was so abysmal, that there were many nations wallowing in abject poverty and Nigeria was getting increasingly dysfunctional. So, I went on various journeys and courses on Nation Building such as the one run by Apostles in the Market Place and the Institute of National Transformation. I also travelled to Ukraine in this quest for answers. Finally, while I was on a three-month sabbatical looking after my daughter, I decided it was time to answer those questions and that’s when I realized it takes a particular mindset to transform nations. In answering the question on what makes up that mindset, I discovered that the reformers mindset is what makes individuals make significant impact. Furthermore, in my book, I highlighted some reputable leaders like Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi and discussed what makes these reformers history makers. I also observed something interesting during my time in Ukraine where I learnt how to change nations, they had pictures of great reformers on the wall and the last frame had no picture with the question stating, “Is this you?”. If your answer to that question was Yes, you have to determine what it will take for you to be a game changer and history maker which is what reformers are. Therefore, you need to have the mindset that if you don’t do what you are meant and sent to this world to do, nobody else will do it. There can’t be another YOU because you are unique and beautifully made and molded by God. You need to understand that first and know that if you are relaxed and neglect your responsibility, it will be left undone and that’s why every single one of us are history makers. So, the question is are you willing to arise to take your place and make the desired impact. Hence, the title of the book “Reformers Arise”. There are four qualities that make up the reformers mindset which I want the readers to learn about when they read the book, but I will discuss briefly, they are summarized as three Cs and an I: A. Character: This includes values such as unquestionable integrity, honesty, and love quotient because it takes love to sacrifice, and it takes sacrifice to build a nation. If your love quotient is low as it is in most of our leaders, you will not serve as a servant leader but govern and rule. B. Competence C. Collaboration. This is very necessary because you cannot change anything now by solo effort and I discussed in my book how change communities transform nations. Therefore, you need to be able to operate in a change community. Most reputable leaders had a change community like the African National Congress by Nelson Mandela. In Nigeria, the reason we are currently in a mess is that we do not have a change community at the highest levels. Like in Singapore, where the focus is on the nation and serving the people, a change community will have the same values, ethos, agree on the same principles and anyone who defies those principles is kicked out! D. Influence. You leverage the three Cs above to drive influence, push change, shift decisions, establish policies, execute and serve. For example, when you are competent and solution oriented, you get to be invited to the table where they are formulating policies. This is an important message to Christians to go beyond having a good character to making themselves relevant to these important discussions by building competence. June 12, 2022 15
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