Arrangements have been concluded to host a week-long programme to honour the Founder/Chief Executive Officer of Centre for Values in Leadership (CVL) Professor Pat Utomi, whose 60th birthday anniversary comes up on February 6.

The Chairman of Pat Utomi at 60 Organising Committee, Chido Nwakanma noted that the highlights of the week-long celebration include the maiden edition of Pat Utomi Business Plan Writing Competition, organised to encourage young professionals and other entrepreneurs to cultivate the culture of developing business plans as starting points of their business.

He added that the winner and two runners-up of the competition will receive prize money ranging from N500,000 to N1,000,000 to enable them move their respective ventures forward.

In order to attract equity for the winning business plans, the winners will present respective projects to high net worth investors interested in Small and Medium Enterprises [SMEs] at a luncheon to roundup the week-long celebration.

The hallmark of the week-long celebration is the 13th edition of CVL Annual Lecture which is designed to draw public attention to current challenges in Africa through its theme – Wealth, Poverty and Human Dignity on Friday, February 5, 2016 with international speakers drawn from East, South and West Africa.

The Speakers include Rev. Fr. Godfrey Nzamujo – President/Founder Songhai Farms, Benin Republic; Dr. Pinkie Mekgwe– Executive Director, Internationalization, University of Johannesburg, South Africa; Ms. Nana Afadzinu – Executive Director, West African Civil Society Institute (WACSI), Ghana and Dr. Fred Olayele – Canada based Nigerian Economist.

The organising committee is also hosting a colloquium to provide a platform for Nigerian youths to discuss the theme tagged Developmental State and The Politics of Development.
The week-long activities will open on January 31, 2016 with an Evening of Entertainment and Culture where galaxies of Nigerian popular artistes reflecting music, dance, drama and comedy have been lined up for live performances.

Three books from the stable of Utomi will also be unveiled during the celebration. The books are: Why Nations Are Poor 3.0; The Art of Leading; and a book of readings in honour of Utomi on the Political Economy of Courtship with Poverty published by the University of Calabar Press with chapters by more than 20 university professors.