3 June, 2024

Many distinguished African statesmen and international personalities including the immediate past President of Kenya Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta, former Liberian President George Weah, former Vice President of Zambia Dr. Nevers Mumba, Sultan of Sokoto  Alhaji Muhammadu Sa'ad Abubakar III as well as the head of the UNDP Sub-Regional Hub for West and Central Africa Njoya Tikum are set to attend the 2024 Goodluck Jonathan Foundation (GJF) Democracy Dialogue scheduled to hold in Benin, Edo State on June 13, 2024.

This year’s Dialogue, the third in the series, will be hosted by GJF founder and former Nigerian President Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and co-hosted by the Governor of Edo State Godwin Obaseki.  With the theme “Functional Education, Effective Political Leadership as a Panacea to Africa’s Growth and Development”, the 2024 Dialogue is designed to bring together a cross-section of key political leaders, policymakers, and experts from across the continent who will be examining the critical role of education and effective political leadership recruitment in the actualisation of the development aspirations of African nations.

The keynote speaker, Prof. Olubayi Olubayi, a seasoned educationist who is the Chief Academic Officer at Maarifa Education, a Kenya based Pan-African company that owns private universities across Africa and former Vice Chancellor of the International University of East Africa (IUEA) in Uganda said he is excited to take on this critical topic and is willing to rub minds with others on the need to rethink the African education system.

While expressing his pleasure with the fact that the event is holding in his state, Governor Obaseki stated that the theme of the dialogue is in tandem with the goals of his administration towards “advancing education and treating it as the pivot for development and the bedrock of societal progress.”

GJF Executive Director, Ms Ann Iyonu said in a statement announcing the event that the “Foundation is hopeful that as always, participants in the dialogue will be solution-oriented in their presentations”, adding that the outcomes of the conference would be compiled and disseminated as input to the collective quest by Africans to advance democratic governance and socio-economic development.

She explained that this year’s Dialogue follows the 2023 edition which explored the interface between democracy and development with the theme “Breaking New Grounds in the Democracy-Development Nexus in Africa''. P.L.O. Lumumba, a dynamic and vocal Kenyan Professor of law and former director of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission was the keynote speaker at the event held in Bayelsa State, Nigeria in September 2023.

Wealth Dickson Ominabo

Communications Officer, Goodluck Jonathan Foundation

30/5/2024