Alumni Spotlight

Arc Joy Osaretin Baderin, a member of the AIG Public Leaders Programme (PLP) Cohort 2 alumnus, was recognised and awarded as one of Nigeria’s top-performing 39 civil servants during the 2024 Civil Service Week Awards Night. She is the Deputy Director, Department of Housing and Urban Development at the Ministry of Niger Delta Development. 

Her commendation by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation for her dedication, integrity, and excellence in public service stems from her exceptional leadership in several areas. Arc Joy credits the AIG PLP for equipping her with the skills to achieve such remarkable results.

In her role, she led the successful implementation of a Performance Management System within the Ministry, resulting in a positive review and an above 60% grade in the 2023 evaluation - a first for the Ministry. Through her AIG PLP Capstone project, she initiated and funded an in-house project management training, leading to a more skilled and motivated workforce. Arc Joy completed and commissioned thirteen social infrastructure projects and established a Project Design and Development Division within the Ministry to ensure the smooth management of both projects and other related matters. She also initiated and led the renovation of departmental offices to create a conducive work environment. 

Arc Joy recounts how her experience on the AIG PLP has improved the quality of her work.

“I can most certainly attribute my recent nomination and award of the Public Service Excellence Award to the knowledge and skills I gained from attending the AIG Public Leaders Programme. This programme fosters a significant mindset shift, which is visible to one’s peers and superiors. The experience most certainly exceeded my expectations. As part of the programme, I was required to implement a reform project in my Ministry and my project focus was titled “The Big is the Small; enhancing staff performance in the Department of Housing & Urban Development, Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs through staff mentoring and in-house training.” The project is focused on building staff capacity in the areas of communication and project management. The goal was to improve staff efficiency, effectiveness and performance by providing regular weekly in-house training by directorate cadre staff to middle and junior-level cadres. The project is still ongoing and has been successful in driving up the morale, capacity and capability of staff members who attend. It has also helped to distribute work across board as more staff members are involved and able to carry out assignments and meet schedules early as against being limited to a few.”