Posted by By Davidson Iriekpen on
About 160 staff of MTN Nigeria Limited last week received an induction course from Resource Development International (RDI) Nigeria for the commencement of postgraduate and professional programmes in some prestigious universities in the United Kingdom.
About 160 staff of MTN Nigeria Limited last week received an induction course from Resource Development International (RDI) Nigeria for the commencement of postgraduate and professional programmes in some prestigious universities in the United Kingdom.
The ceremony, which was attended by impressive participants from MTN and other members of the public, remains a new approach to human capital development as being arranged by the team of the RDI Nigeria.
The induction marks the commencement of a new learning partnership between MTN and RDI using the distant learning centres anchored within the best foreign universities as a beginning of what many have seen as a new phase of continuous education for the working class in most corporate Nigeria.
The scheme which is being pioneered by MTN is believed to possess the capacity of attracting a new stream of other corporate organisations that would capitalise on the available resources with the RDI to involve their staff for the acquisition of new management skills.
The about 160 MTN staff whom the company is preparing for top management positions and sustenance of the company's high skills record have enrolled for MBA, and other professional qualifications in management, marketing and accounting which are to be obtained from some UK universities using the platform provided by the RDI.
According to the Executive Director of RDI Nigeria, Dr. Fakunle Odifa, more competent managers will emerge from the training as the staff will acquire the best available education and at the same time benefit from the advantage of the networking that is always the hallmark of such exposures.
He noted that the centre as structured by RDI International is not leaving any stone unturned in the quest to improve the standard of education in Nigeria as well as providing the missing link in filling the much needed manpower for the ensuing global economy.
Odifa noted that because Nigeria cannot afford to be left out in the current new learning process, the RDI is being refocused on a daily basis to allow interested Nigerians have access to better education, using a time-tested vehicle through which many corporate individuals working as highly-skilled personnel in Nigeria and abroad have gained good education.
Some MTN staff who are benefiting from the new package told THISDAY that it is the opportunity they have been waiting for because of the profile of RDI and the calibre of universities and the institutions involved in the UK.
They said they are grateful to their employer for the opportunity to change the face of management in the country. They are, however, not unaware of the great challenge the enrolment has offered them but pledged that they must not abuse the gesture which the MTN management has offered them by giving them the avenue to be able to measure to the best practice levels demanded by the globalisation trends.
Mr. Brimoh Awudu, a graduate of Leicester University and one of the directors of RDI Nigeria, noted at the ceremony in Lagos that RDI is a true blazer of innovative corporate university, which is designed to provide global managers the skill in line with their growth strategy to take over the African horizon.
Awudu said that the future for these managers, based on their training will be unlimited as they acquire global best practices. He praised the organisations involved in this novel gesture and asked the students to get ready to avail themselves of the opportunity to become one of the celebrated managers of the new globe.
"You will benefit from a relationship with top-level professional bodies which provides administrative support for students and universities worldwide so that distant learning programmes can be tailored to suit corporate institution students in those countries who are in touch with global education," he noted.
Awudu noted that in Lagos, the quality of their external students is same, if not the best from the resident students. They noted that the availability of experienced professionals in the RDI centres is the major advantage as this will help to interface students with professionals of all calibres.
The foundation of the MTN/RDI learning partnership was laid last month in Lagos when two top directors of RDI International, UK came to Nigeria to sign the agreement with MTN during the signing ceremony in Lagos, Odifa noted that RDI will soon roll out a new model in corporate growth strategy which will be of great influence to the country's corporate growth.
At the induction, the MTN staff that will, beginning from next week, start their journey to a new corporate renewal were given books and packs that will prepare them and streamline their thoughts for the new challenge to becoming world class managers.
It is believed that the programme which is like a scholarship from the MTN is part of the telecommunications company's contribution to corporate responsibility and good governance.