With FUNSHO AROGUNDADE
[email protected]
For decades, tech billionaire, Dr Leo Stan Ekeh has demonstrated to be a worthy role model for philanthropy and a living exemplar of what it means to live for public good. For the Zinox Group Chairman, the essence of social transformation and ethics-based leadership among young Nigerians has been a top-of-the-mind idea, and at every opportunity, he has deliberately leveraged his business empire’s Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR initiatives towards achieving these. He had to float and institutionalise ‘The Leo Stan Ekeh Foundation’ as a vehicle to support education, leadership development, and community empowerment initiatives.
In furtherance of its mandate, the Foundation recently partnered the Nkata Ndi Iyom Igbo Foundation to organise a four-day regional ‘Train-the-Trainers’ seminar aimed at equipping women, teachers, mothers, and community leaders with tools to promote character development and values-based leadership among young people in Southeast Nigeria.
Held under the theme “Rebuilding Character, Strengthening Values, Empowering Minds, Enabling the Future,” the seminar —which drew participants from the five South-East states, as well as Edo and Delta States— was designed to prepare participants to serve as agents of moral reorientation and social transformation within their communities. The programme featured practical sessions facilitated by experts in education, leadership, communication, and human development.
The Vice-Chancellor of Imo State University, Prof. U.U. Chukwumaeze, while declaring the Seminar open, emphasised the need for collective action to strengthen societal values. “The responsibility of raising responsible and productive citizens rests with all of us. We must deliberately reorient our young people by teaching and nurturing them in line with our cherished cultural norms and values. Only then can we build a society founded on integrity, discipline, respect, and communal responsibility,” he said.
Major topics covered included: Training for Behaviour Change, Etiquette and Emotional Intelligence Tools for Trainers Effective communication strategies, Value-based leadership Mentoring techniques, Approaches to inspiring positive social attitudes among young people.
Prof. Gloria Ernest-Samuel, Director, The Leo Stan Ekeh Foundation and co-organiser of the programme, expressed confidence that participants would return to their communities as certified trainers capable of influencing families, schools, faith-based organisations, and youth groups toward lasting behavioural change.
The seminar further reinforced the shared commitment of the Nkata Ndi Iyom Igbo Foundation founded by Iyom Josephine Anenih, former Minister of Women Affairs; the Leo Stan Ekeh Foundation; and Imo State University to promoting ethical leadership, preserving cultural values, and raising a generation of responsible, value-driven young people.
(The Sun)