Prof David Abdulai with members of the Bureau of Public Enterprise, Nigeria |
On a private visit to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria, in March 2010, Prof David Abdulai, CEO and Executive Director of the Unisa Graduate School of Business Leadership (SBL), decided to visit the alumni of the SBL’s Strategic Management Training Programme at the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE). In October 2008, the SBL was awarded the contract to provide educational training services to the BPE by the World Bank resulting in 60 of the BPE senior officials attending the training programme at the SBL campus in Midrand. The BPE, as an institution, is charged with the overall responsibility of implementing Nigeria’s policy on privatisation and commercialisation. They also ensure the success of the privatisation and commercialisation transactions through effective post transactional performance monitoring and evaluation.
During his visit, Prof Abdulai was invited to sit in as an observer of the Monday “Issues Meeting” and his insights were sought on the challenges being experienced by the BPE. A further discussion was held on the challenges facing the BPE in relation to efforts to privatise some of the public sector enterprises in the country in order to facilitate unlocking their true value and potential as institutions. After the meeting, Prof Abdulai engaged with the alumni of the programme and they shared with him how they have benefited from the programme. Having been able to tangibly realise the benefits of the programme in their everyday work challenges, the BPE further engaged Prof Abdulai on the possibility of future programmes they hope the school can offer to them and how they look forward to further collaborations with the SBL. They also shared with Prof Abdulai fond memories of their visit to South Africa and the SBL.
In concluding his day visit, Prof Abdulai thanked the officers of the BPE for their hospitality and the warm welcome accorded to him during the unscheduled visit. He expressed the hope that the current relationship that exists between the SBL and BPE is enhanced and deepened as the two develop further training programmes for the future. |
