The Africa Lecture 2012

London, Senate House, University of London, at 5pm

Date: To be announced here shortly.

The Africa Lecture will take place this year in London, at the Senate House, University of London, at 5pm. The inaugural lecture was delivered in 2002 by the late world-acclaimed intellectual, Jamaican-born Prof. Rex Nettleford, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of the West Indies and distinguished former Rhodes Scholar at Oxford.

This distinguished lecture series pioneered by Africa Today magazine will be delivered this year at this prestigious venue by an equally eminent African scholar, Dr. Babangida Aliyu.

Dr. Aliyu is the present Governor of Niger State - Nigeria's largest state by landmass. He is an unusual Nigerian governor. He has been in the system for many years, going through the different levels of the civil service, rising to the service's apex position as a federal Permanent Secretary, serving in seven ministries, including the presidency, before he was first elected governor of Niger State in 2007.

Governor Aliyu introduces himself as "The Chief Servant", and he is also the Chairman of the Northern Governors' Forum, consisting 19 states who represent half of the country. The northern states are Muslim-dominated and constitute about 50 per cent of the entire country of 167 million people.

University of Pittsburgh-educated and one who attended several executive courses at Harvard University, Governor Aliyu is highly regarded and should be a strong potential candidate for national leadership in the nearest future.

In light of the present situation in Nigeria, Africa Today is encouraging Governor Aliyu to use The Africa Lecture 2012 to range over the wider issues facing Nigeria - the security problems in the North, as well as those which continue in the oil-rich Niger Delta region, the policy of the Federal Government on fuel subsidies (partially withdrawn early this year and occasioning wide spread protests and riots), land and power reform and the fight against corruption, and so on. He will be addressing a quality gathering of diplomats from Africa and the Commonwealth, British Government officials, members of the All-Parliamentary Group on Nigeria and Africa, business people and others from the academia and media.

True to his natural disposition, we believe that Governor Aliyu will be very frank. It should be a most fascinating lecture, which should not be missed.

However, because of the large interest for attendance and the limited space available, we will be very grateful if you could register if you would like to attend so that we can secure a seat for you and send you an invitation letter/card. Allocation of seats is on first come first serve basis. I am sure you'll understand. So be the Early Bird and register NOW!

Date for the lecture will soon be announced on this space.

To register and get sent an invite, please send your full name, address, telephone number and email address to - publisher@africatoday.com

KAYODE SOYINKA
Publisher, THE AFRICA TODAY GROUP.