allure 12062022

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.
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