Building Thinkers, Not Copycats: Inside Cheetahs Policy Institute’s Leadership Bootcamp in Ibadan

 Building Thinkers, Not Copycats: Inside Cheetahs Policy Institute’s Leadership Bootcamp in Ibadan

On September 12–13, 2025, Ibadan became the meeting point of ideas, energy, and vision as twenty young leaders gathered for the Cheetahs Policy Institute’s Public Policy Leadership Bootcamp. The two-day program was more than a training; it was a call to action for a new generation determined to reshape Africa’s policy future.

The bootcamp opened with warmth and energy, but quickly moved into depth. In the very first session, Dr. Dotun Famoriyo, founder of the Cheetahs Policy Institute, placed African public policy in historical context, tracing how colonial legacies continue to shape governance and development today. From there, Faozy Gazaly led participants through a critical look at Africa’s key policy challenges — poverty, inequality, weak institutions, and environmental threats — urging the need for solutions tailored to Africa’s realities.

One of the defining moments came when participant Adewunmi Adebimpe asked:

“What is the place of evidence in policymaking? Do we, in Africa, truly contextualize our problems, or are we at risk of becoming policy copycats?”

It was more than a question; it was a challenge. Adewunmi’s reflection highlighted a recurring theme throughout the bootcamp — the need for African solutions to African problems. Evidence, she argued, must be more than imported statistics or borrowed frameworks. It has to involve listening to communities, drawing from lived experiences, and translating research into practical, localized action.

Other facilitators reinforced this message through diverse lenses. Stephen Oyedemi introduced participants to tools for policy analysis and evaluation, urging them to ground their arguments in data while remaining context-aware. Abdulhammed Musodiq tackled climate policy, reminding the group that Africa’s vulnerability to climate change requires homegrown adaptation strategies. Chief Solomon Adewole explored the international dimensions of policy, showing how trade and foreign aid can both empower and trap African nations.

From healthcare to education, no issue was left untouched. Dr. Ayodeji Ogunleye dissected the barriers to effective health policy, while Bayonle Fesobi examined the pressing challenges of education reform. Dumebi Mercy closed the sessions with an interactive wrap-up that pushed participants to test their ideas against one another in debate, sharpening both their knowledge and their confidence.

By the final evening, when awards were handed out, the atmosphere was electric. Participants spoke of transformation — of coming into the bootcamp with questions and leaving with answers, strategies, and above all, courage. For many, it was the first time they had been asked not just to learn, but to lead; not just to absorb, but to create.

The Cheetahs Policy Institute believes leadership is cultivated, not inherited. This bootcamp is proof of that. With the guidance of its facilitators and the brilliance of the twenty participants, Ibadan witnessed the making of leaders who are not afraid to question, innovate, and contextualize.

If Nigeria and Africa are to move forward, it will not be through copy-paste policies that collapse under local realities. It will be through thinkers and doers who, like those trained in Ibadan, are willing to ask hard questions, design fresh solutions, and put people at the center of policymaking.

The seeds have been planted. The responsibility now rests on these twenty young leaders to water them — in their communities, institutions, and across the continent. And for the Cheetahs Policy Institute, this is only the beginning: one bootcamp, twenty leaders, countless possibilities.