A Teacher In Power: Soludo And The Architecture Of Excellence

MAZI EJIMOFOR OPARA

I don’t forget in a hurry how my Gen Z mentee described Gov. Soludo.

I had enlisted her on a task that bordered on some brand analytics. Then one evening, we sat down to a firework of brainstorming around her ideas. The more I evaluated her ideas, the more she noticed a departure from how I had engaged previously.

She paused, said a few quiet words, and quickly wrapped up with these lines: “Mazi, your Boss (Soludo) thinks in systems and understands in numbers.”

First, I pretended that I understood her. Then I repeated what she said in my subconscious. It struck me like a eureka moment. I began to piece the puzzles together — in line with what Soludo had done in the past, what he is currently doing, and how he describes his actions.

Soludo has time and again proven that the intelligentsia is capable of grand transformation and leading mega-trends. His strategy is not “governance by donation” or leadership by public validation. Those who do this pretend their way through everything and end up believing in nothing.

Yesterday’s outing at the 16th Convocation of the State’s University revealed Soludo’s fundamental core as a “Systems Builder.” It was easy to give the 37 First Class graduates handouts in the form of reward for excellence. But like vintage Soludo, he gave them a life — a platform to replicate and groom more excellent individuals that would sustain the supply chain of credible and skilled human capital.

If there is a time to be proud of a Teacher in Power, I think it was first in 2004–2009, when the foundation for everything you know today as Nigeria’s financial institution was laid and consolidated. The next time to be proud that a Teacher is steering the ship of State of a subnational is the period between 2022–2030, when the foundation of a liveable and prosperous Anambra State is being laid.