The expected guests include Ms. Beatrice Eyong, UN Women’s Country Representative; Karim El Aynaoui, Executive President, Policy Center for the New South, Rabat, Morocco; Mrs. Hadiza Bala Usman, Special Adviser to the President of Nigeria on Policy & Coordination and Head, Central Delivery Coordination and Engr. Shehu Tijjani, Managing Director, Amal Technologies Ltd.

Ms. Eyong, a Cameronian national, will chair the lecture that will be delivered by Ambassador Prof. Ibrahim Agboola Gambari, former chief of staff of former President Muhammadu Buhari and former Permanent Representative of Nigeria at the United Nations.

She will also moderate the discussion session featuring Bala Usman who doubles as a special guest and discussant along with Tijanni.

El Aynaoui will keynote the Lecture.

In her acceptance message dated September 10, 2024, Eyong, who has over 35 years professional working experience in the international organisations in promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment, said: “I intend to attend the lecture….”

She holds a Master of Science degree in Agricultural Extension from the University of Reading, United Kingdom; a Diploma in Women, Extension workers and Agriculture from the Larenstein International Agricultural College – Deventer, the Netherlands; and a Diploma in Integrated Rural Development, from the Pan African Institute for Development West Africa, Buea – Cameroon.

Also, El Aynaoui from Morocco, emailed on May 10, 2024, stating: “Thank you very much for your very kind invitation which I accept gladly. I am very honoured”.

He is also executive vice-president of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University and Dean of its Humanities, Economics, and Social Sciences Cluster, and an economist.

From 2005 to 2012, he worked at the Central Bank of Morocco where he held the position of Director of Economics, Statistics, and International Relations.

At the Central Bank of Morocco, he was in charge of the Research Department and equally a member of the Governor’s Cabinet.

Previously, he worked for eight years at the World Bank as an Economist for its regional units in the Middle East and North Africa, and Africa.

Karim El Aynaoui has published books and journal articles on macroeconomic issues in developing countries.

On her part, Bala Usman, who has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Master’s degree in Development Studies from the University of Leeds, UK, sent a message on July 13, 2024, stating: “I will be there and I have sent to my team to schedule”.

Bala Usman was the managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, an activist and a politician.

Similarly, Tijjani, described as a technologist, innovator, visionary leader and entrepreneur dedicated to transforming Nigeria’s technological landscape, said in his message: “Thank you for the honour. I shall be in attendance by the grace of God.”

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Tijjani is a First Class graduate in Information Technology and Business Information Systems from Middlesex University with a background in hardware and firmware engineering.

The management of Realnews Magazine and Publications Limited, publishers of Realnews Magazine Online, had announced the lecture would be on “Africa in World Shifting Geopolitics: Matters Arising on Demography, Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Natural Resources”.

Maureen Chigbo, the publisher of Realnews, said there will be an induction of all the speakers into The Realnews Hall of Fame immediately after the Lecture.

Chigbo explained that the Realnews Hall of Fame was established to honour only those who played key roles during the anniversary lectures.

Realnews, a general interest magazine, is an online publication that thrives on investigative journalism.

“We have expertise in reporting the oil and gas sector with its attendant environmental challenges. We aim to unearth exclusive stories about real people and the challenges they face in their day-to-day activities. We do this bearing in mind that government can only act to influence the lives of people positively if they are aware of their true situation. Hence, our objective is to use our investigative skills to ferret out information in the sectors we focus on and produce an unbiased report that will actually influence the government and decision-makers to take actions that will make society better.

“Realnews is populated by seasoned journalists who believe strongly in the tenets and ethics of the profession. The online publication believes that journalism as the fourth Estate of the Realm can contribute its quota towards building a fair and just society where fundamental human rights are respected and citizens have the freedom to pursue their interests anywhere in the world without hindrance. Its editors have a combined experience of several decades in active journalism practice and are highly dedicated to serving humanity. Hence its motto: “For God and Humanity.””

Realnews Anniversary Lecture Series was established to commemorate the best minds in the society and to tap from them to enrich the discourse in our national development.

Realnews Anniversary Lecture Series was established to commemorate the best minds in our society and to tap from them to enrich the discourse in our national development.

The post Eyong, El Aynaoui, Bala Usman, Tijjani for Realnews lecture appeared first on Frontpageng.

The lecture on “Africa in World Shifting Geopolitics, Matters Arising on Democracy, Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Natural Resources” will be held at the Sheraton Hotel, Lagos, on Tuesday, November 19, 2024.

Ambassador Gambari’s acceptance to deliver the lecture was communicated to Realnews in an email dated April 27, 2027, that he sent, stating: “I am delighted to re-confirm my acceptance in principle of the invitation to deliver the lecture.”

Gambari, a Nigerian academic and diplomat, served as chief of staff to the President of Nigeria from 2020 to 2023. Before this, Gambari was the longest-serving permanent representative of Nigeria to the United Nations from 1990 to 1999, under five Heads of State and Presidents, and minister of external affairs from 1984 to 1985.

While at the UN, Gambari was the president of UNICEF in 1999; and became Under-Secretary-General and the first Special Adviser on Africa to  Secretary-General Kofi Annan from 1999 to 2005.

He was the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations for Political Affairs from 2005 to 2007 under Secretary-Generals Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-moon.

His last appointment in the UN was from January 2010 to July 2012, when he was appointed by Ban Ki-moon and the Chairperson of the African Union Commission as the Joint African Union-United Nations Special Representative for Darfur.

Born on 24 November, 1944, in Ilorin, Kwara State, Gambari attended King’s College, Lagos, and subsequently went to the London School of Economics where he bagged a B. Sc. (Economics) degree (1968) specialising in International Relations.

Later he got his M.A. (1970) and Ph.D. (1974) degrees from Columbia University, New York, United States in Political Science and International Relations.

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He taught at the City University of New York before working at the University of Albany and subsequently at Ahmadu Bello University, in Zaria, Kaduna State.

From 1986 to 1989, he was a Visiting Professor at three universities in Washington, D.C.: Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Georgetown University, and Howard University.

He has also been a research fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C. and a resident scholar at the Bellagio Study and Conference Center, the Rockefeller Foundation-run center in Italy.

He has authored many books and published articles in reputable journals in foreign policy and international relations, including the ‘Theory and Reality in Foreign Policy: Nigeria after Second Republic’.

The diplomat also served as the Minister for External Affairs between 1984 and 1985 under General Muhammadu Buhari’s military regime, after he was the director general of The Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA).

The lecture will be chaired by Ms. Beatrice Eyong, UN Women’s Country Representative in Nigeria, who will also moderate the panel session.

Realnews, a general interest magazine, is an online publication that thrives on investigative journalism.

“We have expertise in reporting the oil and gas sector with its attendant environmental challenges. We aim to unearth exclusive stories about real people and the challenges they face in their day-to-day activities. We do this bearing in mind that government can only act to influence the lives of people positively if they are aware of their true situation. Hence, our objective is to use our investigative skills to ferret out information in the sectors we focus on and produce an unbiased report that will influence the government and decision-makers to take actions that will make society better,” the management stated.

It added: “Realnews is populated by seasoned journalists who believe strongly in the tenets and ethics of the profession. The online publication believes that journalism as the fourth Estate of the Realm can contribute its quota towards building a fair and just society where fundamental human rights are respected and citizens have the freedom to pursue their interests anywhere in the world without hindrance. Its editors have a combined experience of several decades in active journalism practice and are highly dedicated to serving humanity. Hence its motto: ‘For God and Humanity’.”

Realnews Anniversary Lecture Series was established to commemorate the best minds in the society and to tap from them to enrich the discourse in our national development.

The 11th Anniversary Lecture in 2023 on The Threats of Illicit Funds Flow to the African Economy was delivered by Dr. Edwin W. Harris Jr., Director-General, ECOWAS Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA).

The 10th Anniversary lecture in 2022 on “Drug Abuse among Youths in Africa: Implication for Nigerian Economy and 2023 Elections” was delivered by Brig General Buba Marwa, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA;  9th Anniversary Lecture of Realnews in 2021 was delivered by Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote, Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board on “Nigeria in the Unfolding Integration of the African Market: The Oil and Gas Perspective”; 2020 Eighth Anniversary Lecture of Realnews was delivered by Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Chairman of the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 on Managing COVID-19 Pandemic in Africa: The Nigeria Experience; Former President John Dramani Mahama of Ghana gave the 2019 Lecture on Beyond Politics: An Economic Narrative for West Africa while Prof. Mahmood Yakubu spoke on Political Transitions and Africa’s Economic Development: Preparations for Nigeria’s 2019 General Elections at the 2018 Lecture.

The 2017 Fifth Anniversary Lecture on African Leadership in a Turbulent Era was delivered by Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, former minister of Education and former World Bank Vice President. The 2016 Fourth Anniversary Lecture on Security and National Development in Plural Democratic Society was delivered by Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas, former United Nations Secretary General’s Special Representative to West Africa and Sahel; the 2015 Realnews Third Anniversary Lecture was delivered by Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on November 19, 2015, under the theme: It’s The Nigerian Economy, Stupid? The Second Realnews Anniversary Lecture on Nigerian Democracy: Getting it Right in 2014 was delivered by Professor Maurice Iwu, former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

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