Courageous benevolence and the next cohort of public sector leaders, By Adedotun Eyinade

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Mr Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede’s philanthropic intervention in Africa’s public service is remarkable and exemplary. By identifying a clear gap in the public sector and deploying resources to address it consistently and methodically, he is charting a new course for Africans to tackle African problems, instead of relying on aid and foreign philanthropists whose well-intentioned efforts often erode our agency as a people.

The first world owes much of its progress to philanthropy. In those climes, those whose palm kernels were cracked by the benevolent spirit, to borrow from the late Chinua Achebe, are constantly paying it forward through their philanthropic support for the arts, humanities, education, health, and other charitable endeavours. Even Africa isn’t left out of the enduring helping hands of JD Rockefeller, Henry Ford, John D MacArthur, and many more. Nigeria still counts on the enduring support of Bill Gates through his Gates Foundation to tackle several public health challenges.

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I suppose the pioneering efforts of these philanthropists of yore and those of today continue to inspire public-spirited business elites. It is heartening to note that Africa is building an influential corps of philanthropists who are deploying their immense means to take on challenges that can unlock significant value for the greatest number of people on the continent. I am a beneficiary of the transforming impact of the largely unsung philanthropic interventions of a Nigerian banker, especially in developing human capital for Africa’s public sector.

In January 2016, I dared to dream. After my performance evaluation with my then-boss the previous month, I resolved to pursue graduate studies at all costs. I knew I wanted a stint at an elite institution, and I put all my eggs in one basket by applying to only the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government. Application and references submitted, I waited. The next month, a mentor asked if I was sure I’d get a place in the incoming cohort. I told her I was confident. I considered my profile stellar enough to earn a place in the competitive programme.

I followed an online forum for prospective graduate students for updates and waited with bated breath. On the evening of 30 March, an email arrived announcing an offer for the Master of Policy Programme at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford. After congratulating me, my wife’s first question was: “Where will you get the money to fund the programme?” It was a pertinent question. The fee was a whopping £40,000, not including living expenses. We had welcomed our son a few months earlier, so all our life savings had gone into hospital bills.

I was sure I would get a scholarship. It was the only way I could afford to take my place in the programme. The alternative was to take on a student loan. For the next four months, my life was consumed by the quest to secure funding to pursue my dream course at the great citadel of learning. I wrote several essays in response to scholarship calls and sent unsolicited letters to philanthropists.

Mr Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede’s philanthropic intervention in Africa’s public service is remarkable and exemplary. By identifying a clear gap in the public sector and deploying resources to address it consistently and methodically, he is charting a new course for Africans to tackle African problems, instead of relying on aid and foreign philanthropists whose well-intentioned efforts often erode our agency as a people.

While waiting for feedback on some of those essays, I came across news that Nigerian banker, Mr Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede had announced that his foundation would sponsor a select number of West African students to study Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government every year. It was news to my ears and felt like an immediate answer to my prayers. But there was a snag: I already had an offer to study in September 2016; meanwhile, the AIG scholarship awards would not begin until September 2017. I was momentarily deflated.

Not one to be easily deterred, I did some research, found the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation’s landing page, and then sent a well-composed email. Although I received two initial partial scholarship offers from the University of Oxford, I still had a huge shortfall. I showed my strong interest in the programme by accepting the offer and paying the non-refundable acceptance fee.

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I wrote to some Nigerian philanthropists whom I had gathered, at one time or another, had helped indigent students achieve their academic dreams, but I did not hear back from any. Time was now running out. Distraught, I decided to follow up on my previous email to Mr Aig-Imoukhuede’s foundation by couriering a letter to his Lagos office. This was my last-ditch effort, as the deadline was closing in and I needed the necessary documents from the school to begin the visa application. By some stroke of providence, in the second week of July, I received an email from the University awarding me a full tuition scholarship.

Two days later, I received an email from the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation acknowledging my email and letter. In the email, they asked me to respond to two essay questions, which I did immediately. In my reply, I added that I had been awarded a full scholarship and requested support to cover the shortfall in living expenses, since the school would refund my initial deposit. The director of the Foundation thereafter asked me to send a breakdown of my living expenses.

Days later, I received feedback that the Foundation would cover the shortfall in full. In return, I was asked to do a Nigeria-focused internship. Nothing more. Thanks to Mr Aig-Imoukhuede’s generosity, thirty-five other Nigerians and Ghanaians and I have attended the competitive Master of Public Policy programme at the University of Oxford. Recipients of the AIG MPP scholarships now work in the public and development sectors in both countries.

The courageous benevolence of Mr Aig-Imoukhuede is thus worth celebrating. As Mr Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede turns 60 this week, I wish him many more decades of impactful and inspiring work in the public sector, and I hope the seeds of his contributions to the development of Africa’s public sector brain trust will germinate and bear fruit in his lifetime.

In September 2016, when I subsequently met Mr Aigboje Aig-Imoukhede, he told me that after reading my letter, he had resolved that the process for selecting scholars for the MPP programme would be rigorous and impersonal. Applicants for the AIG scholarship must go through a competitive selection process, even before they apply to the University of Oxford. This reflects his conviction that if Africa’s fortunes are to change, the public sector must be overhauled and staffed with the most competent individuals. This conviction is further evident in the development of the AIG Public Leaders Programme, a leadership capacity-building initiative designed to equip public sector leaders to drive, lead, and deliver effective change. Now, in its fifth cohort, the PLP programme has trained over three hundred public sector leaders since its launch in 2021.

Mr Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede’s philanthropic intervention in Africa’s public service is remarkable and exemplary. By identifying a clear gap in the public sector and deploying resources to address it consistently and methodically, he is charting a new course for Africans to tackle African problems, instead of relying on aid and foreign philanthropists whose well-intentioned efforts often erode our agency as a people.

After decades of impressive strides in banking and Nigeria’s capital market, Mr Aig-Imoukhuede’s relentless focus on supporting efforts to overhaul Africa’s public sector, starting with Nigeria, rests on the fundamental thesis that a country is as good as the quality of its bureaucrats. This thesis has been tested worldwide, including by Swedish political scientist Professor Bo Rothstein, a global authority on the quality of government, who incidentally taught me at the Blavatnik School of Government.

Nigeria needs more public-spirited philanthropists in the mould of Mr Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede. To whom much is given, much is expected, and giving back should not be restricted to the tokenistic dispensing of palliatives to people experiencing poverty. Philanthropy should be structured, intentional, mission-driven, and should dare to confront challenges that other forms of capital would not venture. This is the road less travelled.

The courageous benevolence of Mr Aig-Imoukhuede is thus worth celebrating. As Mr Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede turns 60 this week, I wish him many more decades of impactful and inspiring work in the public sector, and I hope the seeds of his contributions to the development of Africa’s public sector brain trust will germinate and bear fruit in his lifetime.

Adedotun Eyinade writes from Abuja.