LEADERSHIP Public Service Person of the Year 2026: Mr Abubakar Ajayi Ozovehe

For his visionary leadership in transforming Government Secondary School, Gwarinpa, into a future-ready institution by deliberately nurturing innovation, discipline, technology and talent, and by providing the environment that produced Nigeria’s best-ever result at the AI for Good 2026 Global Summit Robotics for Good Youth Challenge, Mr Abubakar Ajayi Ozovehe is the Public Service Person of the Year 2026.

When Mr Abubakar Ajayi Ozovehe assumed leadership of Government Secondary School, Gwarinpa, Abuja, he recognised that preparing young people for the future would require far more than conventional classroom instruction. In a rapidly evolving world shaped by technology, innovation and new forms of knowledge, education must equip students not merely to pass examinations but to think critically, solve problems, collaborate effectively and develop the confidence to compete globally.

Guided by this conviction, Ozovehe has championed a progressive philosophy of education that integrates academic excellence with technology, sports, creativity, discipline and practical talent development. Under his leadership, Government Secondary School, Gwarinpa, has increasingly become a platform for students to discover their strengths, develop their abilities and explore opportunities beyond the traditional boundaries of the classroom.

The results have been remarkable.

One of the clearest demonstrations of the school’s transformation came from Team Bright Stars, its robotics team, which emerged as National Champion in the Junior Category at the Nigerian National Finals. The victory earned the students the opportunity to represent Nigeria at the AI for Good 2026 Global Summit’s Robotics for Good Youth Challenge in Geneva, Switzerland.

At the global competition, Team Bright Stars delivered an exceptional performance. Competing against teams from more than 50 countries, the students emerged as Africa’s highest-performing team and finished fourth worldwide. The achievement marked Nigeria’s best-ever performance at the competition and firmly placed Government Secondary School, Gwarinpa, on the global map of youth innovation.

For a public secondary school, the significance of this accomplishment cannot be overstated. It demonstrated that with purposeful leadership, committed teachers and mentors, access to opportunities, and deliberate investment in young people’s talents, Nigerian public schools can nurture students capable of competing successfully with their peers anywhere in the world.

Yet Ozovehe’s contribution extends far beyond the success of a single robotics team.

At the heart of his leadership philosophy is the conviction that every child has potential and that educational leadership must create an environment in which that potential can be discovered, nurtured and transformed into achievement. Recognising that students learn and excel in different ways, his administration has embraced multiple pathways for young people to identify and develop their strengths.

Rather than limiting education to academic instruction, his leadership has elevated sports, technology and other co-curricular activities to essential pillars of holistic development. Basketball, football, robotics and related programmes have provided students with opportunities for self-expression, practical learning and personal growth, while reinforcing the values of discipline, teamwork, responsibility, resilience and perseverance.

His approach to discipline is equally noteworthy. Rather than viewing discipline solely through the lens of punishment, Ozovehe has fostered an environment that combines structure with engagement, responsibility and opportunity. By creating meaningful platforms for students to participate, contribute and excel, the school has fostered greater confidence, creativity and a stronger sense of belonging among its learners.

A defining feature of his leadership has been his commitment to preparing students for a future increasingly shaped by science, technology and innovation. Recognising the growing importance of robotics, artificial intelligence and digital skills, he supported the development of robotics as a major focus for the school.

His vision is clear: Nigerian students must not remain mere consumers of technology; they must acquire the knowledge, skills, and confidence required to deploy it in creating solutions to real-world problems.

The success of Team Bright Stars offers compelling evidence of that vision in action. The students underwent months of intensive training in coding, programming, robotics and practical problem-solving before their international outing. Their preparation enabled them to design and develop an autonomous robot capable of performing simulated agricultural operations, including precision navigation, irrigation, harvesting, produce sorting and the transport of agricultural materials.

Developed around the 2026 competition theme, “Food Security,” the project demonstrated how robotics, sensors, programming and artificial intelligence can be deployed to address one of the world’s most pressing challenges. Through their work, the students explored how technology could support precision agriculture, improve productivity, reduce waste and optimise the use of water and other agricultural resources.

Their achievement also challenges the assumption that robotics, artificial intelligence and advanced technological education should remain the exclusive preserve of elite institutions. Under Ozovehe’s leadership, students from a public school in Abuja demonstrated their ability to compete successfully with young innovators from across the world.

This success did not emerge in isolation. Before the remarkable 2026 performance, Government Secondary School, Gwarinpa, had taken part in an international artificial intelligence competition in Geneva, where students developed an earthquake-rescue robot to identify victims and support emergency response operations. These experiences have steadily strengthened students’ technical capacity, confidence and global exposure while introducing them to international standards of innovation and problem-solving.

Beyond the achievements of his students, Ozovehe has become an advocate for greater investment in robotics and technology education. He has consistently drawn attention to the high cost of robotics equipment and the challenges schools face in acquiring essential tools such as robotics kits, sensors and other technological resources.

His call for stronger government and private-sector partnerships reflects a clear understanding that preparing Nigerian children for the technological age cannot be left to individual schools alone. It requires deliberate investment, stronger institutional support and a national commitment to expanding access to science, technology and innovation education.

For Ozovehe, the ultimate measure of educational leadership is not limited to examination results or administrative efficiency. It lies in a school’s ability to identify potential, develop talent, and transform possibility into measurable achievement. Through deliberate investment in student development and emerging technology, he has helped create opportunities through which young people can see themselves not merely as students preparing for examinations, but as future innovators, engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs and problem-solvers.

The experience of Government Secondary School, Gwarinpa, offers an important lesson for Nigeria’s public education system: with visionary leadership, committed teachers and coaches, deliberate investment in talent and opportunities for practical learning, public schools can produce young people capable of competing at the highest international level.

The success of Team Bright Stars is therefore not an isolated achievement, but the product of a deliberate school culture that values discipline, creativity, teamwork, technology, innovation and excellence.

Mr Abubakar Ajayi Ozovehe’s tenure at Government Secondary School, Gwarinpa, stands as an inspiring example of purposeful public-sector leadership within Nigeria’s education system. Through his commitment to holistic student development, talent discovery and emerging technology, he has helped transform a public secondary school into a platform from which young Nigerians can compete confidently on the global stage.

In recognition of his visionary approach to public-school leadership, his commitment to innovation and technology education, his emphasis on discipline and holistic student development, and his role in creating the enabling environment that produced Africa’s highest-performing team and secured a fourth-place global ranking at the AI for Good 2026 Robotics for Good Youth Challenge, Mr Abubakar Ajayi Ozovehe eminently deserves recognition as the Public Service Person of the Year 2026.