Kukah, Soludo, Duke to brainstorm on challenges facing South-East
Bishop Hassan Kukah, Catholic Bishop of Sokoto; Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, former CBN Governor and former Gov. Donald Duke of Cross River State have been named to find solutions to challenges facing South-East.
These informed and influential public figures would x-ray South-East in a round-table discussion and debate called Enugu (South-East) Forum.
The Co-ordinator of the Forum, Prof. Ufo Okeke-Uzodike, told newsmen yesterday in Enugu that the forum’s roundtable would be held on March 2 in Enugu.
He said that the forum is meant to create a space for possible policy solutions that could be deployed in 2017 to arrest some of the country’s socio-economic and political challenges from the South-East perspective.
“Enugu Forum is a civic platform for development policy discourse.
“Anchored by the African Heritage Institution (Afri-Heritage), which was formally known as the African Institute for Applied Economics (AIAE), Enugu Forum has provided a strong and genuine voice on issues that affect our continent, our country, and the South-East.
“Currently, it is not a secret that Nigeria is undergoing a period of economic recession and uncertainty, which has fuelled political tensions and social insecurity.
“Given this backdrop and the need to stimulate public debates on some of the salient issues, the Enugu Forum is organizing a roundtable discussion on – Nigeria: A Prognosis of 2017 – on March 2, 2017,” he said.
According to him, the steadying importance of experienced and reliable voices must remain in the mix of policy dialogue to ensure that needless mistakes are avoided or minimized through lessons previously learned.
He noted that basically, policy dialogue was important and healthy especially in a democracy for effective governance.
“Democratic spaces are unique because they necessarily provide privilege and enable public participation and dialogues on policy between the governed and the governors.
“In this way, the public space is energized and opened up for engagement and policy bargaining between government, business and citizens through civil society organizations.
“There is compelling evidence that governments perform best — with respect to well-received and articulated policies and service deliveries — when they are forced to be accountable to their publics,” he said.
Other discussants include: Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, former Minister of Solid Minerals and Education; Prof. Akpan Ekpo, former Vice Chancellor of University of Uyo; and Prof. Osita Ogbu (Economic Adviser under President Obasanjo and Director Institute of Development Studies).
