Funmi Ogundare
The Citizenship and Leadership Training Centre (CLTC), in collaboration with Premiere Academy, Abuja, is set to organise a 10-day leadership training boot camp for final-year students of the school, as part of efforts to prepare them for life beyond secondary education.
The programme, according to the Principal of the school, Chris Akinsowon, is designed to equip the students with practical leadership and life skills, including confidence, discipline, teamwork, effective communication and a strong sense of responsibility.
“The boot camp is part of a series of pre-resumption activities planned by Premiere Academy to usher in the new academic session and gradually prepare its final-year students for the demands and opportunities of post-secondary school life,” he stated.
CLTC, a Federal Government agency under the Federal Ministry of Youth Development, he noted, provides informal and experiential leadership and citizenship education.
Modelled after Outward Bound, an international outdoor education network, the centre uses outdoor expeditions and experiential learning to promote character development, resilience and teamwork among participants.
The principal commended CLTC for offering to facilitate the training, stressing that sound leadership and citizenship education among young people remained essential to nation-building.
Akinsowon added that the programme would expose participants to strategic thinking, self-discovery, discipline and patriotism through physical and mental challenges.
“These objectives aligned with our vision of preparing students for life beyond secondary school. The partnership also reflects the school’s commitment to producing students who are not only academically successful but also responsible, confident, disciplined and prepared to provide positive leadership in society,” he stressed.
Describing the boot camp as evidence of its commitment to building an empowered and productive secondary education ecosystem, Akinsowon said it would continue to invest in initiatives aimed at developing future leaders.
“We fully understand the sacred duty of producing a community of vibrant, thoughtful, well-rounded, high-achieving and strategically focused problem-solving future leaders,” he said.
He noted that the school’s regular professional training and mentoring programmes were designed to help students develop the capacity to adapt to new situations and challenges while building compassion, maturity and personal responsibility.
“These sessions help students to learn the compassion to support those who encounter difficulties and the maturity to take responsibility for themselves,” Akinsowon stated.
He expressed optimism that the initiatives would ultimately produce graduates who would stand out as responsible citizens and demonstrate the transformative power of education in their communities and the wider society.