Ezekwesili, Soludo, Kukah, others for Enugu sumit

Former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, former Central Bank governor, Prof Charles Soludo, Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Hassan Kukah and former governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke, are among experts who will converge on Enugu next month for a roundtable on the ways the country would overcome its socio-economic and political ills.

The policy development roundtable tagged “Nigeria: A Prognosis of 2017”, being put together by African Heritage Institution (AfriHeritage) will also discuss the current economic recession that has fuelled political tensions and social insecurity across the country.

Executive Director of AfriHeritage, Prof Ufo Okeke Uzodike, said at the weekend that the event fixed for March 2, was important and healthy for effective governance. He stressed that the public space would be energized and opened up for engagement and policy bargaining among government, businesses and the citizens of Nigeria.

He stated that the event was a prelude to a two-day Southeast governance innovation summit which would hold in Awka, the Anambra State capital from March 7, 2017.

It would also afford the Southeast states the opportunity to showcase their most effective governance reforms and practices with a view to share innovative experiences.

Uzodike stressed that the Awka Summit, being organized in collaboration with DFID’s Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL) Programme, was aimed at improving service delivery across the zone by encouraging state–to state networking, peer learning, collaborations, adoption and replication of innovative governance practices by all states.

“In essence, the primary rationale that underscores this innovation summit is for the Southeast region to present game changing state level innovations in governance that have been tested, and that have proven critical to the improvement of governance in their respective states.

“The Innovation Summit will also focus on deepening service delivery systems and citizen participation in the delivery of public goods and services in different areas of governance and service delivery,” he said.

He added that the innovation summit would reflect the commitment of AfriHeritage and DFID-PERL in supporting the aspirations of the governments and citizens for more responsive governance arrangements and public institutions.