Ambassador Prof. Ibrahim Agboola Gambari, former Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, and former Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, will deliver the Realnews 12th Anniversary Lecture.
The lecture on “Africa in World Shifting Geopolitics, Matters Arising on Democracy, Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Natural Resources” will be held at the Sheraton Hotel, Lagos, on Tuesday, November 19, 2024.
Acording to a statement signed by Maureen Chigbo, Realnews Publisher/Editor, Ambassador Gambari’s acceptance to deliver the lecture was communicated to Realnews in an email dated April 27, 2024, that he sent, stating: “I am delighted to re-confirm my acceptance in principle of the invitation to deliver the lecture.”
Gambari, a Nigerian academic and diplomat, served as chief of staff to the President of Nigeria from 2020 to 2023. Before this, Gambari was the longest-serving permanent representative of Nigeria to the United Nations from 1990 to 1999, under five Heads of State and Presidents, and minister of external affairs from 1984 to 1985.
While at the UN, Gambari was the President of UNICEF in 1999; and became Under-Secretary-General and the first Special Adviser on Africa to Secretary-General Kofi Annan from 1999 to 2005. He was the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations for Political Affairs from 2005 to 2007 under Secretary-Generals Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-moon. His last appointment in the UN was from January 2010 to July 2012, when he was appointed by Ban Ki-moon and the Chairperson of the African Union Commission as the Joint African Union-United Nations Special Representative for Darfur.
Born on 24 November, 1944, in Ilorin, Kwara State, Gambari attended King’s College, Lagos, and subsequently went to the London School of Economics where he bagged a B. Sc. (Economics) degree (1968) specialising in International Relations. Later he got his M.A. (1970) and Ph.D. (1974) degrees from Columbia University, New York, United States in Political Science and International Relations.
He taught at the City University of New York before working at the University of Albany and subsequently at Ahmadu Bello University, in Zaria, Kaduna State. From 1986 to 1989, he was a Visiting Professor at three universities in Washington, D.C.: Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Georgetown University, and Howard University.
He has also been a research fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C. and a resident scholar at the Bellagio Study and Conference Center, the Rockefeller Foundation-run center in Italy. He has authored many books and published articles in reputable journals in foreign policy and international relations, including the ‘Theory and Reality in Foreign Policy: Nigeria after Second Republic’.
The diplomat also served as the Minister for External Affairs between 1984 and 1985 under General Muhammadu Buhari’s military regime, after he was the director general of The Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA).
The lecture will be chaired by Ms. Beatrice Eyong, UN Women’s Country Representative in Nigeria, who will also moderate the panel session.
Realnews Anniversary Lecture Series was established to commemorate the best minds in our society and to tap from them to enrich the discourse in our national development.
The 11th Anniversary Lecture in 2023 on The Threats of Illicit Funds Flow to the African Economy was delivered by Dr. Edwin W. Harris Jr., Director-General, ECOWAS Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA). The 10th Anniversary lecture in 2022 on “Drug Abuse among Youths in Africa: Implication for Nigerian Economy and 2023 Elections” was delivered by Brig General Buba Marwa, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.
The 9th Anniversary Lecture in 2021 was delivered by Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote, Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board on “Nigeria in the Unfolding Integration of the African Market: The Oil and Gas Perspective”; while the 2020 Eighth Anniversary Lecture was delivered by Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Chairman of the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 on Managing COVID-19 Pandemic in Africa: The Nigeria Experience;
Former President John Dramani Mahama of Ghana gave the 2019 Lecture on Beyond Politics: An Economic Narrative for West Africa while Prof. Mahmood Yakubu spoke on Political Transitions and Africa’s Economic Development: Preparations for Nigeria’s 2019 General Elections at the 2018 Lecture.
The 2017 Fifth Anniversary Lecture on African Leadership in a Turbulent Era was delivered by Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, former minister of Education and former World Bank Vice President. The 2016 Fourth Anniversary Lecture on Security and National Development in Plural Democratic Society was delivered by Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas, former United Nations Secretary General’s Special Representative to West Africa and Sahel.
The Third Anniversary Lecture was delivered by Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on November 19, 2015, under the theme: It’s The Nigerian Economy, Stupid?
The second series on Nigerian Democracy: Getting it Right in 2014 was delivered by Professor Maurice Iwu, former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
