All is now set for the 2026 TheNiche Annual Lecture, with the Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Chioma Otti, as the lecturer and the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, as the chairman.
This year’s edition, the fifth in the series, will hold on April 23 at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Victoria Island, Lagos.
The event will start at 10am prompt.
This was confirmed in a statement by the Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief of TheNiche, Ikechukwu Amaechi, on Tuesday.
Before becoming Abia State governor on May 29, 2023, Otti, a renowned banker, was the Managing Director of Diamond Bank Plc, a major Nigerian retail bank that merged with Access Bank in 2019 to form a larger entity.
In the same vein, before becoming the Emir of Kano, Sanusi, who doubles as the spiritual leader (Khalifa) of the Tijanniyah Sufi order in Nigeria and neighbouring countries, was also the Managing Director of First Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria’s oldest bank and one of Africa’s largest financial institutions.
He was the first northerner to head the bank.
He was also appointed Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) by late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in 2009.
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Amaechi said the choice of Otti as the guest speaker and Emir Sanusi as the chairman was deliberate.
He said: “As Nigeria goes into another silly season of politics, the electorate need to be reminded, to use the phrase of James Carville, former U.S. President Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign strategist, that ‘it is the economy, stupid.’
“There is also the need to remind leaders at all levels to keep the campaign focused on economic issues.
“Both Governor Otti and Emir Sanusi are unarguably among the best, not only in Nigeria but also globally on issues of the economy and sundry financial matters.
“So, the idea of the lecture this year is to jumpstart the much needed discussion on the economy we have and the governance we need.
“The lecture will dissect the country’s economic reality and the discipline, or lack of it, of governance.”
Amaechi noted that the 2026 lecture, under the auspices of TheNiche Foundation for Development Journalism, will be the fifth in the series.
Previous guest speakers include Prof. Kingsley Moghalu; Prof Anya O. Anya; Babatunde Raji Fashola, former Lagos State Governor and former Minister of Power, Works and Housing; and Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, former Rivers State Governor and Minister of Transportation.
Past chairpersons include Prof. Remi Sonaiya, late Dr. Christopher Kolade, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai, and Dr. Uma Eleazu.
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