The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN), is to hold its inaugural International Lecture on Thursday, October 3, a statement signed by its Managing Director, Malam Ali M. Ali, said on Wednesday in Abuja.
According to the statement, former Military Head of State, retired Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, is to chair the event that would be held at the Nigerian Army Resource Centre, Abuja.
It said that Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas, erstwhile President of ECOWAS Commission, would deliver the Lecture and speak on the topic: “Insecurity in the Sahel (2008-2024): Dissecting Nigeria’s Challenges – Genesis, Impacts and Options”.
Chambas, a renowned diplomat versed in security and conflict resolution, is currently African Union Chief Mediator on Sudan.
It said that President Bola Tinubu, members of the Federal Executive Council, top echelon of Nigeria’s political establishment and top brass of the military would attend the event.
Also expected are members of the diplomatic corps, the academic community, media executives and captains of industry.
It said that the Sultan of Sokoto, Mohammadu Sa’ad Abubakar, the Ooni of Ife, Adeyeye Ogunwusi, and the Obi of Onitsha, Nnaemeka Achebe, would grace the occasion.
The statement said that the lecture was part of efforts to enliven public discourse on the debilitating challenges of terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, militancy and violent ultranationalism, among others.
It said that the Lecture would address causal factors responsible for driving violence in the region.
“The lecture shall also seek to unravel non-state actors at the heart of the violence.
“It shall also look at the impact on Nigeria, and how the nation could cope with the danger.
“The lecture shall seek to look at what prognosis Nigeria could make going forward, and elicit responses to the posers.
“It will also interrogate the root causes of the violence troubling the Sahel, examine its impact on Nigeria’s territorial integrity and x-ray options available to policy strategists,” the statesmen said. (NAN)
