Three public officials win Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation’s Oxford masters scholarship

The Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation, a philanthropic organisation aimed at improving public service delivery, has awarded three Nigerian public servants Master’s scholarships in Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford.

The 2023/2024 AIG scholars are Abdulhakeem Ibraheem Abdulkareem (Special Assistant to the Kaduna State Governor); Ajike Chinagorom Ogbu, (Assistant Chief Engineer, Performance Management Department, Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation) and Olutimayin Oluseye Itunuoluwa, (Deputy Manager, Internal Audit Department, Central Bank of Nigeria).

Ofovwe Aig-Imoukhuede, Executive Vice-Chair of the Foundation, said that in their time in Oxford, the scholars would be armed with an advanced understanding of public policy and governance, which they could use to shape and implement policies that address the nation’s most pressing challenges.

Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, chairman of the Foundation, expressed his expectations that they will return to their Ministries, Departments and Agencies as catalysts of change armed with the knowledge and skills acquired from their studies to drive meaningful progress in the nation’s governance and policies.

Alumni of the AIG Scholarship Programme, Adejoke Are, (Special Adviser to the Chairman, Lagos State Employment Trust Fund) and Hakeem Onasanya, (Head, Startups, Lagos Innovates), shared their experiences of life in Oxford with the incoming scholars. They offered practical advice on thriving during their academic journey, building lasting networks and ultimately leveraging their Oxford experience to contribute positively to Nigeria’s public service landscape.

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Since 2017, the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation has awarded 29 scholarships to students across various African countries. The scholarships are just one of the Foundation’s initiatives aimed at building the capacity of the public sector workforce.

Other initiatives by the Foundation include the AIG Senior Leaders Programme for Federal Permanent Secretaries and the annual AIG Public Leaders Programme, both of which aim to provide high-potential public servants with the knowledge required to bring about transformational change, across their organisations.

Through its various programmes, the Foundation has helped train nearly 400 public servants since 2017 and has a goal of reaching 3,000 of the country’s top public servants by 2030.

The Foundation said applications for the 2024/2025 AIG Scholarships will open in August 2023.

Isaac Anyaogu

Isaac Anyaogu is an Assistant editor and head of the energy and environment desk. He is an award-winning journalist who has written hundreds of reports on Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, energy and environmental policies, regulation and climate change impacts in Africa. He was part of a journalist team that investigated lead acid pollution by an Indian recycler in Nigeria and won the international prize - Fetisov Journalism award in 2020. Mr Anyaogu joined BusinessDay in January 2016 as a multimedia content producer on the energy desk and rose to head the desk in October 2020 after several ground breaking stories and multiple award wining stories. His reporting covers start-ups, companies and markets, financing and regulatory policies in the power sector, oil and gas, renewable energy and environmental sectors He has covered the Niger Delta crises, and corruption in NIgeria’s petroleum product imports. He left the Audit and Consulting firm, OR&C Consultants in 2015 after three years to write for BusinessDay and his background working with financial statements, audit reports and tax consulting assignments significantly benefited his reporting. Mr Anyaogu studied mass communications and Media Studies and has attended several training programmes in Ghana, South Africa and the United States

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