The National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) is today generally regarded as one of the most efficiently ran and result oriented agency in Nigeria due to its new leadership that have shown over time that it has the leadership resources to make it great.
The space agency is one of the most advanced space agency in Africa, boasting of four satellites and very grand ambitions. Nigerian satellites has been praised for its high resolution images.
Today, despite its challenges in the face of the competing for funds climate among developmental agencies in the country due to the present economic realities facing the country, there was the urgent need for a leadership that has the leadership resources to against all odds look inward to transform the dream of the agency into reality.
In that regard, the present administration under the able leadership of President Mohammadu Buhari must be praised for its efficient leadership recruitment drive that led to the present leadership of the agency led by Dr. Halilu Ahmad Shaba.
Since his appointment as the substantive director-general of the nation’s space agency, he has introduced a lot of initiatives that is changing the narratives at the agency. His leadership vision and reforms initiatives is bringing about the needed transformational change unlike in the past when the agency was led in the business as usual approach much to the applaud of all. Transformational change is unlike any other type of change. It requires leaders to go far beyond traditional change and agency management approach.
He is never a novice in leadership because with over 20 years experience in administrative and leadership positions both at the public service and the academia observing and supporting large scale change and transformative tendencies and initiatives in his career, he identified some best practices strategies that are proven for leading transformation and that is the positive transformative initiatives he is implementing today that has made NASRDA one of the best ran agencies in Nigeria today.
Many of this reformative leadership strategies are people strategies that that maximise management and staffs commitments and engagements that has reduced envisaged resistance to his transformation initiatives agenda in the agency. This is because his transformative agenda are cutting-edge and proven to increase workforce engagements to ensure it’s full adoption and in the process leading to sustained desired results.
This approach which is deliberate provides a systematic approach for consciously leading through uncertainties which has guided the agency through the complexities of this transformational drives. His basic logic of successes is in developing the staff to always be at their best by taking ownerships of the meaningful and transformative changes at the agency through immersive, stimulation-base leadership initiatives programmes initiated by the director-general and insight experience to teach his staffs to always inspire and effect change in their units and departments.
This was designed by him to challenge departmental heads at the agency to lead a better, more balance way to champion the agency’s larger organizational strategy with their staffs and team. This has vividly led to the achievements of strong results through enhanced leadership strategies and staffs management skills by all and sundry at the agency.
Today, it is now clearer to visitors and those that visits the agency on a daily basis that there is a significant change that have taken place at the nation’s space agency due to the transformational initiatives introduced by the director-general.
The agency arguably is now one of the best ran agency in the country through the increased cross-organizational collaborations with other like minded agencies and it’s effective response to crisis and unexpected changes which has inspired employees engagements and performances through priority setting tones, contents of communications, and strategic allocations of their own time across competing agency needs.
This transformational reforms at the agency was spurred by the director-general’s vision for a space agency that is responsive to the needs of the time because the country cannot afford to miss this opportunities of using the exploration of space as one of the basis of our development, while the rest of the world races ahead of us.
The director-general believes that Nigeria have to seize the opportunity because he doesn’t want any opportunities provided by space exploration to happen anywhere but in our country, and this he believes with better management, we can do it.
– Musa Wada writes from Abuja.
