Harvard School appoints Okigbo senior fellow for Mossavar-rahmani Centre

The Harvard Kennedy School of Government has announced the appointment of Patrick O. Okigbo III as a Senior Fellow of the Mossavar-rahmani Centre for Business and Government (M-RCBG) for the 2020-2021 academic year.

According to a statement made available to Businessday, Patrick will join 17 other distinguished professionals from business and government to address issues at the interface of public and private sectors. Their roles will strengthen the connection between theory and practice, offering both faculty and students insights to the nature of social problems and their most practical solutions.

As a Senior Fellow, Patrick’s research will be on “Rebuilding the Falling House: Technology Innovations and Africa’s Renaissance”. His faculty sponsor is Harvard Professor John Haigh who is the Co-director of the M-RCBG with Larry Summers and is a Lecturer at the Harvard

Kennedy School. This research underpins Patrick’s conviction that Africa can leapfrog to the next frontier of development by leveraging ubiquitous technology innovations to address many of her governance and development challenges.

Alongside his research engagement, Patrick, a former a Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan, will lead study group sessions with other Senior Fellows, lecturers and students at the Harvard Kennedy School in his area of research.

The statement further noted that Patrick is the Founder of Nextier Advisory, a public policy advisory firm with a focus on improving governance and development outcomes in Africa. Nextier works with major government institutions and international development partners. It is the local implementing partner of two of the most extensive infrastructurefocused development programmes in Nigeria.