A New Diploma in Public Leadership Highlights Alternative Models for Leadership Development.
Recent developments in Nigeria’s higher education landscape point to a growing trend: cross-sector partnerships between universities and non-state actors aimed at addressing governance and leadership gaps through executive education.
A notable example is the newly launched Advanced Diploma in Public Leadership and Statecraft, a collaborative effort between the University of Lagos Business School (ULBS) and the Citadel School of Government (CSG), an institution founded by Pastor Tunde Bakare, a religious leader and civic advocate.
Context: Filling a Leadership Development Gap
The programme emerges from a long-standing concern about the disconnect between Nigeria’s governance challenges and the leadership capacity available to address them. According to CSG’s leadership, the initiative builds on a curriculum first developed through The International Centre for Reconstruction and Development, an NGO initiative piloted seven years ago. Its aim was to develop context-specific approaches to leadership education outside traditional academic frameworks. The current partnership with ULBS marks a formal institutional step forward, combining academic instruction with practitioner-led engagement from sectors including civil service, political leadership, and corporate governance.
Programme Structure and Accessibility
The diploma is designed as an executive programme, primarily targeting individuals already in or preparing for leadership roles. However, its stated objective is broader: to embed ethical, strategic, and service-oriented leadership principles across sectors.
Key features include:
- Joint delivery by ULBS faculty and CSG’s network of governance practitioners.
- Emphasis on applied learning and policy relevance.
- Hybrid structure to accommodate working professionals.
One of the more distinctive aspects of the programme is its pricing model. CSG has announced an 87.5% tuition subsidy for the inaugural cohort, reducing the fee from ₦4 million to ₦500,000, payable in instalments. The subsidy aims to lower entry barriers for prospective participants from a range of backgrounds and sectors.
Institutional Voices
Speaking at the Memorandum of Agreement signing, Professor Folasade Ogunsola, Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, emphasized the role of leadership training in national development and institutional transformation.
This is a course for everybody,” she noted. “What it is teaching is the principles of leadership, which can be applied everywhere. If Nigeria is to stand, we need transformative leadership—and that means ethical and service-driven leadership at all levels.
From CSG’s perspective, the initiative also represents the institutional realization of a civic vision, one rooted in the belief that capacity building in governance requires both structural reform and individual development.
Broader Implications
This partnership raises several relevant questions: ● What role can religious and civil society organisations play in shaping leadership education in Africa?
● How can non-state actors complement formal institutions in addressing gaps in governance training?
● What models exist for accessible, practice oriented executive education that extend beyond elite or donor-funded environments?
At a time when many African nations are grappling with both institutional fragility and demands for more accountable leadership, initiatives like this one offer a hybrid approach merging normative frameworks of service and ethics with institutional and policy-oriented learning. The ULBS-CSG model provides a case worth watching not only for its potential impact on leadership development but also as a test case for cross-sectoral innovation in public education.
