A Time to Speak
Tomorrow, I leave for Dunhuang, in Gansu Province of Western China, to participate in an international conference put together by ‘People’s Daily’, the biggest media group in the country and an official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party. The conference is expected to discuss the “Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)”, a development strategy that more or less underlines the subtle but increasing power projection of China across the globe. Invited as one of the keynote speakers for the opening ceremony next Tuesday, I am to speak on the impacts that BRI “will bring to regional and global peace and development” while also sharing my thoughts “on the transformation of media industry brought by the emergence of new media and new technologies; from how the news is produced, how it is delivered to how it is consumed.”
When I return next Saturday, I will be giving a lecture three days later (on Tuesday, 26th September) at Baze University in Abuja. I will be speaking to the students on “Leadership and responsibility in the age of social media”. And six days later, on Monday 2nd October, I will be on the 2017 “Platform Nigeria” in Lagos to speak on “A Nation on the Edge: Which Way Nigeria?”
However, of the three public engagements within a period of 14 days, I am particularly looking forward to this year’s edition of Platform which will mark my 6th time of participation. The ever gracious host and Senior Pastor of the Covenant Christian Centre, Pastor Poju Oyemade told me on Monday that this year’s edition is specially put together to address not only the current upheavals in our country but also to look at the endless possibilities for peace and prosperity. “Nigeria has witnessed military rule, insecurity, economic downturns, religious and ethnic unrests that have threatened its political unity but these have come as separate events in national history” said Pastor Poju who added: “We are now witnessing, perhaps for the first time in our 18-year democracy, a combination of these events which collectively threaten our national unity. The theme of this Platform comes from a firm belief that notwithstanding these threats, we are a resilient people with capacity to overcome our challenges.”
With the theme “Putting together the jigsaw pieces that form Nigeria”, the other speakers for this year include Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, Mr Segun Odegbami, Prof Egbosa Osaghae and Mr Okey Enelamah. The venue remains ‘The Covenant Place’, Iganmu. As usual it will be Live on Channels television. But for those who will like to personally attend, it is by online registration at www. theplatformnigeria.org/register.