Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, Popular Arise Television Presenter, Mr Rufai Oseni and notable Media Professional, Pastor Ayo Arowojolu and 20 others are to be conferred with honorary doctorate degrees at the forthcoming Leadership Empowerment International Conference(LEIC) on September 23, 2023.
The honorary award is being conferred by a South-African-based Immanuel Institute of Theology in conjunction with Priesthood Leadership Development Initiative Inc based in Nigeria.
Addressing journalists on Thursday in Abeokuta, the International Coordinator of Priesthood Leadership Development Initiative incorporated, Prof. Olusesi Obateye disclosed that the honour was bestowed on the awardees in recognition of their far-reaching contributions and impact to the society.
The International Coordinator who was flanked by some officials including, the International Director, Media and Communication, Pastor Wole Dosunmu, and Chairman, Award and Recognitions Committee, Mrs Stella Sawyerr, said the conferment forms part of a three-day Leadership Conference billed for Abeokuta.
Obateye said while ACP Adejobi and Mr Oseni are expected to bag a PhD in Leadership (Honoris Causa), Pastor Arowojolu will be conferred with a PhD in Theology (Honoris Causa)
Other awardees, according to Obateye are two foreign prominent preachers, a German, Pastor Conrad Oberle, and an American pastor, Dr Mrs Tamike Vudunt Brown. He added that both will be conferred with Doctoral awards at the event.
Obateye also disclosed that Owu Kingmaker/Promoter, Sixth Sense Initiatives, Chief Abiodun Lasile and the Lead Pastor, SPAC, Abeokuta, Dosunmu, would be conferred with Doctoral honours.
Also, the conference would honour the CEO of Wessy Creation and Continental Suites, Otunba Wasiu Taiwo and popular Fertility Therapist cum Mother of Million Babies, Oyindayo Akeeb with PhD in Leadership (Honoris Causa).
The International Coordinator who spoke on the theme of the conference ,tagged “Regenerative Leadership”, said poor leadership remained the bane of Nigeria’s crisis.
He explained that having toured a lot of counties in the African continent and the world over, he has come to the painful conclusion that the country is blessed with so many things, except good leadership .
He disclosed that the three-day conference would commence on Thursday September 21 and end on Saturday September 23 with participants from 18 countries in attendance.
He said: ”This LEIC Conference is about right leadership at the right time. To do things rightly at the right time. Regenerating leadership is about so many things. It’s about reconstruction, reawakening replanting, refocusing, re-examining. We mean that leaders are to reproduce themselves.
“Leadership starts from a very right structure. If you are in diaspora and you are not connecting with your people, if you have a challenge, it’s going to be very difficult for them to help you.
“It’s not peculiar to Yorubas alone but you find out that where there are Igbos, they will always network, they will always look for themselves and so the reason for this leadership empowerment and enrichment conference is for us to broaden our knowledge and capacity to accomplish greater things.
“Leadership starts from the home front and it is not peculiar to officials in government alone, it will also tell us more of the speakers that are coming and this is to let you see that we are looking at the different strata in the society.
”The youths, those who are in the governance, religious circle whether you’re Christian or Muslim and of course those who will see that they distinguish themselves from their choice of career, they will come and indeed impact us and we will take it up from there to indeed spread it to a larger society.”
Speaking on the three previous conferences earlier held, Obateye said “places where our conferences have taken place are United Kingdom, South Africa, Uganda, Ghana, Kenya, Togo, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Burundi.
“Here is the fourth time that Nigeria will host the conference, having held in 2019, 2021, 2022, and now 2023.”