By Ifeanyi Eduzor
Former Governor of Lagos State and the immediate past Minister of Works and Hosing Babatunde Raji Fashola ( SAN), Deputy Head Operations, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Mrs. Olufunke Amobi and Boluwaji Apanpa; Partner, People and Change Human Resources Management, KPMG, Advisory Services and other notable Nigerians have commended Ikoyi Club 1938 for the giant strides it has recorded since it was founded even as they charged the club management to think outside the box and come out with innovative ideas that will make the club more relevant in the changing world as well as attract youths to it’s fold.
They gave the commendation during a symposium organised by the leading recreational club in the country as part of activities marking it’s 85 years anniversary.
Delivering a paper on the topic, “Managing Change in Ageing Institution” , Fashola identified leadership, communication, technology advancement and innovation as the key elements that drive change and challenged the club’s leadership to put in place modalities that will bring about the necessary changes that will make the club adapt to changing times to make it attractive to the younger generation.
In her paper titled, managing an ageing workforce and the future of work, Mrs. Olufunke Amobi, noted that technological advancement has changed a lot of things; including the way people are thinking and socializing and as such the club must be ready to accept the difference between the present work force and the new generation.
Boluwaji Apanpa, who spoke on the topic, Human Resources Management Process and Procedures posited that leadership is about people and must be subject to change because if the leadership refuses to adapt to change, the organisation can go into extinction.
He noted that for the club to move forward, the leadership must embrace technology and know how to attract the right people as workers; motivate them adequately as well as decide how to groom the workforce and make them progress in their career
In their separate presentations Messrs; Idy Enang, Yomi Badejo Okunsanya and Arc. David Majekodunmi who spoke on Marketing/ technological transfer of ageing brands and products, managing public perception of institutions through transformation changes and infrastructural changes and capacity management of assets respectively, all spoke on the legacy to be left behind for the coming generation which they said is important for the sustainability of the club
At the end of the taught provoking and well researched papers, the resource persons all agreed that apart from improved infrastructure, Ikoyi Club 1938 must embrace technology, move with dictates of time and put in place modalities that will attract younger generation to the club.
In his closing remarks, Chairman of the club, Tafa Zibiri- Aliu while thanking all the presenters for doing a thorough job, announced that a master plan has ready been out in place to look into some of the issues raised by the panelist.
Meanwhile, the chairman of Ikoyi Club, Tafa Zibiri- Aliu says that the foremost recreational club in the country has done a lot in grassroots sports development even as he stated that as Nigeria celebrates 63 years of nationhood on Sunday, the club is standing high amongst it’s equals in moving sports forward since the country’s independence.
“Ikoyi Club since inception about 85 years ago has done a lot towards encouraging our youths to be actively engaged in sports and I stand to be corrected if there is any similar club in the country that can match our record.
” In the area of swimming, our children are regularly sponsored to swimming competitions and just recently, they went for an international event where they won medals”, he explained
According to him, almost all the sports Federations have one way or the other collaborated with Ikoyi Club and as Nigerians celebrate the country’s independence, there will be no dull moment for children of club members and members in all the eight sports sections of the club.
