News

Lawmaker, 6 Others Bag PhD, MSc In Public Governance and Leadership

Published

1 month ago

August 27, 2025

Joel Ajayi

The Abuja Leadership Centre (ALC), at the Yakubu Gowon University, formerly the University of Abuja, on Tuesday awarded Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degrees to six of its students and a Master’s Degree to another student in Public Governance and Leadership.

Notable recipients of the Doctoral Degree include Rt. Hon. (Barr.) Otobong Effiong Bob, the House Leader of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly and representative of the Nsit-Ubium State Constituency, and Samson Imoni, a senior public servant at the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).

The other PhD graduates are Skari Margaret Dimax, Unuyu Asuquo Eyo, Bernard Akpa, and Alhassan Adamu. While Okutepa Usman Danladi bagged a Master’s Degree in the same field.

According to Professor Philip Dahida, the Director of the Centre, these academic achievements were awarded after the candidates successfully met all requirements, including the defense of their theses and dissertations on August 26, 2025.

Professor Dahida commended the university’s School of Postgraduate Studies and the
examiner for the display of professionalism, knowledge transfer, and passion in evaluating the doctoral and master’s candidates.

He however tasked the recipients to apply their research work to improve the Nigerian society at large, while acknowledging and lauding their resilience and efforts in pursuing knowledge.

In his reaction, Rt. Hon. Otobong Effiong Bob described the doctoral award as a great academic milestone, while revealing that his research work which dwelt on the nature and challenges of the shareholding system in Nigeria can help address the problems and bridge the existing gaps.

The lawmaker commended the Center for providing the enabling environment for knowledge acquisition and “proper tutoring” of master’s and doctoral candidates.

“Today is a significant day for me as a person, and for my family because coincidentally this will be the first PhD in my family. It’s a significant day because it marks a great academic milestone.

“I’m eternally grateful to God. I’m also very grateful to the management of the University of Abuja, most especially the Director of the Abuja Leadership Centre, Professor Dahida.

“There’s a lot of dedication, there’s a lot of academic skill that is needed for you to be able to get to this level. So I thank the Centre again and all the lecturers that we’ve come in contact with because they’ve impacted greatly in my life and on my academic pursuit. So I’m really grateful.

“My research topic is on the nature and challenges of the shareholding system in Nigeria. And from my research we were able to identify gaps in the already existing literature. It would help strengthen the regulatory functions of the regulatory bodies within the shareholding system in Nigeria.

“So, we look forward to the work contributing to protecting shareholders in the way they should actually be protected to help avoid them losing the money they invest in shares.

“I eventually would like to see this research work published and I hope at that point that those in the position of power and those that have the opportunity and ability to be able to push such reforms would refer to this particular piece of work to be able to make meaningful change in this particular sector,” Otobong stated.

On his part, Samson Imoni, a staff of TETFund, described the academic award as a -noble feat that will propel him to see how he can midwife change in the affairs of the larger society, While decrying the impact of poor quality of leaders in the country, he urged for a deliberate training of people in leadership positions in public governance and leadership.

“The attainment of this noble feat will propel me to see how I can midwife a change in the affairs of the larger society because it’s all about public governance and leadership. If you look around, you will see that there is generally a leadership deficit in our country, even the followers may not be performing excellently well in terms of followership, hence there is need for the leadership to be on the driver’s seat so that the followers can naturally follow.

“There should be deliberate effort in getting leaders to acquire the kind of knowledge available at the Abuja Leadership Centre because the buck stops on the leader’s table. So, there is every need for us to enlighten them on what exactly they should do in order to transform the society because any mistake from them can be chaotic,” Imoni asserted.

The Abuja Leadership Centre at the University of Abuja is a TETFUND Centre of Excellence for Public Governance and Leadership, dedicated to enhancing public governance and leadership both in Nigeria and beyond.

Share on Facebook

News

Tin City Warms Up for President Tinubu as North Central Embraces Renewed Hope

Published

1 day ago

October 4, 2025

The Gleamer

By Sunday Dare

When President Bola Ahmed Tinubu berths on the plains and rolling hills that dominate the Jos landscape tomorrow, he will meet a people resourceful, friendly and resilient but weighed down by conflict, yet unbowed by adversity.

So, tommorrow, national attention turns to the Plateau- a locale laden with history and rich with potential. From the tin mines that gave the city of Jos its name, to the Irish potato, strawberry farms and beetroot plantations that dot its landscape, Jos remains a land of promise—truly the Home of Peace and Tourism.

Jos is also deeply woven into Nigeria’s political history. Plateau is home to towering figures such as Generals JD Gomwalk, Yakubu Gowon, John Shagaya, Joshua Dogoyaro, and Jerry Useni. Solomon Lar, Senator Ibrahim Mantu and numerous others also stand tall in the annals Plateau political history.

Jos was also the rallying ground of the famed Langtang Mafia—a group of influential military officers from Langtang in Plateau State who, at the height of their power, played a significant role in Nigeria’s political and military affairs.

The story of Jos is both exciting and excruciating. The city lost its innocence some two and a half decades ago, when the popular Terminus Market was reduced to rubble through acts of arson and looting.

Thus at the turn of the millennium by 2001, Jos—and by extension, Plateau—was thrown into a cycle of unending conflict. Ethnic tensions, clothed in religious garb, tore through the city and spread across the state, dragging Jos into an abyss of violence, almost of Kigali proportions. Peace gave way to war, and tourism jaunts became undertakings to the undertaker.

Yet Jos has never surrendered. Every time it is written off, it rises again—scarred, but resilient. With its multi-ethnic, multi-religious fabric, the Plateau continues to trudge on in pursuit of peace, development, and egalitarian ideals.

It was here, in Jos, that Nigeria’s democratic resurgence was birthed. The historic SDP convention, where late General Shehu Yar’Adua and Chief Moshood Abiola held sway, took place in this city. Jos gave political life to Abiola, our hero of democracy in 1992

Now, thirty three years later, another hero of democracy and of the June 12 struggle returns to the Plateau. President Tinubu’s return and visit to Plateau State is not just to honor the transition to glory of Nana Lydia Yilwatda, the mother of the APC National Chairman.

It is a visit that carries deeper meaning—one of empathy, solidarity, and renewed hope for a people who have endured decades of turmoil. It is a mission to preach peace, console the bereaved, bind wounds, and assure Plateau of its central place in the Nigerian project.

Mr President comes not just to mourn, but to reconnect. He comes to parley with the North Central, to commiserate with a people who have suffered, and to extend the hand of renewed hope. That Renewed Hope is laying a solid foundation as evidenced by Naira at N1,455 per dollar, rising Foreign Reserves at $43bn, Trade surplus heading for N25tr. Revenues up 411% and Inflation down to about 20 per cent. Over 600,000 students benefiting from NELFUND.

This visit is more than ceremonial. It is a journey into the very soul of a people who have known pain, yet remain resilient; a land scarred by conflict, yet still brimming with hope and promise. As the Tin City opens its arms, Jos will not just receive the President—it will receive a message of solidarity, healing, and renewal.

Tomorrow is about remembering the glorious past, confronting the present, and charting a path to a peaceful and prosperous Plateau within a united Nigeria. With President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, Jos once again stands at the intersection of history and destiny.

Share on Facebook