Soyinka lecture to link education, electricity

The ninth Wole Soyinka Centre Media Lecture Series (WSCIJ) will be examining the nexus between electricity and basic education, a statement by Coordinator of the centre, Motunrayo Alaka said.

The statement said the lecture is scheduled for Thursday 13 July 2017 at Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja by a10am.

Alaka said the annual lecture will this year mark Wole Soyinka’s 83rd birthday, with the theme, “Light Up, Light In: Interrogating the nexus between electricity and basic education in Nigeria”.

“The event seeks to contribute to strategic thinking and provide a veritable opportunity to raise critical questions and national debate on issues surrounding basic education (Sustainable Development Goal 4) and electric power availability and affordability (Sustainable Development Goal 7) in the country,” the statement said.

It said the centre will use the occasion to launch the Regulators Monitoring Programme (REMOP) “which is conceived as a media initiative geared at reporting the activities of regulators, including successes and failures, in a bid to promote proactive disclosure of information, transparency and accountability. The MacArthur Foundation supports the pilot phase of the programme with focus on electricity and basic education.”

Speakers at the event include; Hamid Bobboyi (UBEC), Anthony Akah (NERC), Edward Kallon (UNDP), Obiageli Ezekwesili, Professor Olabisi Obadofin, Gbemiga Ogunleye, Provost, Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ) and Imeh Okan, Project Manager, USAID Energy, Power Africa Nigeria,