Laide Raheem, Abeokuta
Three former African leaders have been scheduled to deliver keynote addresses to commemorate the 83rd birthday of former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The former African leaders, who will speak at the event slated between March 3 and 5 at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), Abeokuta, include the former President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, her Sierra Leonian counterpart, Ernest Bai Koroma and former Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Hailemariam Desalgn.
Addressing journalists on Monday on the activities lined up for the birthday event of former President Obasanjo, the Director, Centre for Human Security and Dialogue, OOPL, Professor Peter Okebukola, said apart from the keynote addresses, an international policy round-table themed ‘The Asian Aspiration’ will be organised by CHSD, with the support of The Benthurst Foundation.
Okebukola, who noted that the birthday celebrations of Obasanjo since he left office as president in 2007 has been used to a platform to promote development agenda in Africa and the world in general, disclosed that “the round-table discussion will seek to share lessons from Asia’s development for strengthening Africa’s integration and cooperation in the area of socio-economic development”.
He added that the policy round-table scheduled to hold between March 3 and 4, will also witness the formal presentation of a book entitled “The Asian Aspiration” authored by Greg Mills, Olusegun Obasanjo and others.
Okebukola, however, said that the celebration will climax on March 5, with a birthday keynote lecture entitled ‘The Place of Pan Africanism in an Emerging World of Besieged Liberal Democracy’ to be delivered by former President Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone.
The lecture, according to the CHSD director, will be followed by a birthday carnival with a mosaic presentation of African cultural heritage.