Goodluck Jonathan foundation, Edo government to host democracy dialogue

The Goodluck Jonathan Foundation has partnered with the Edo State government to host this year’s 2024 annual Democracy Dialogue on the 13th of June 2024 in Benin City, the Capital of Edo State, Southern, Nigeria.

The 2024 Dialogue with the theme “Functional Education, Effective Political Leadership as a Panacea to Africa’s Growth and Development” 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.

Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, said 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.

In the same vein, the Executive Director of the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation, (GJF), Ms Ann Iyonu said, “The Foundation is hopeful that as always, participants in the dialogue will be solution-oriented in their presentations”.

She also said 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”.

According to her, 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’.

Expected at the event are 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.

The keynote speaker of the 2024 Democracy Dialogue, Professor Olubayi Olubayi, the Chief Academic Officer at Maarifa Education, and former Vice Chancellor of the International University of East Africa (IUEA) in Uganda said he is willing to rub minds with others on the need to rethink the African education system.

There will be a panel section that will deal with the theme of the event.