By Evelyn Usman  

Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo; Director-General , World Trade Organization, WTO  Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and former chairman, Independent National  Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof.  Attahiru Jega, are among other eminent Nigerians  that will speak  at the colloquium to mark the  113th anniversary of Kings College. 

Organised by the Kings College Old Boys’ Association, KCOBA, the speakers are expected to brainstorm on the way out of the present state of  insecurity and economic downturn of the country. 

Briefing journalists yesterday  on the events lined up  for the celebration,  the Chairman, 2022  Kings Week Planning committee, Mr Etigwe Uwa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria ,SAN, said the colloquium would hold on Saturday, September 24, at the Kings College Hall, Tafawa  Balewa, Lagos.

 This year’s celebration themed ‘Building the Nigeria of our Dreams’  according to him, was  informed by the current realities facing the country, a situation he described as  a source of grave concern to Kingsmen. 

He noted that kidnapping and activities of terrorists had spilled  over  from the North East to other regions of the country .

 Lamenting, he  said, “Kidnap for ransom  is becoming very prevalent. Nothing more exemplifies what I am saying than the attack on the Abuja bound train and the killing and mayhem. The other day we noticed the blown up of an aircraft , bandits took  the fight to our Federal Capital Territory and attacked the Kuje prison where they set a lot of other terrorists and  criminals free. The implication of that action is that  those  who have been kept away from the society because of their nefarious activities, are  unleashed on  the society.”.

He further decried, “  our economy is not doing well, today the dollar is exchanging at over N700 at the black market, petrol  is selling between N160 and N170 per litter , our children have been out of school over 200 days on account of the ASUU strike, several  pensioners in  many states of the federation are not receiving their pensions as at when due. We are  seeing a greater level of agitation that we haven’t seen since the civil war. Nigeria is currently divided along its frontline of ethnicity, religion and all these  could not give us a lot of cause to be happy”

He expressed hope that at the end of the colloquium  an agenda for a new Nigeria  would be drawn.

” An agenda for a new Nigeria,an agenda for a prosperous Nigeria,  a Nigeria that is renewed, refocused and built to occupy its enviable role as a giant of Africa and a giant of the black race.

On his part Vice president, KCOBA , Dr Leke Osuniyi, traced the commemoration of the founding of Kings college to 1909 , noting that the history of the college predated that of the country.

He boasted that  members of KCOBA had  occupied commanding heights of the public sector and had played their respective roles in serving the country.

 But he was quick to add that “ perhaps what we have not done is play a role at the political level . Not many kings College boys are pictured at the political level. You can actually name them with the fingers of two hands. We hope that as the year goes by,there will be a swing to a point where we begin to get involved at the political level rather than at the civil service level which is historically what we were known for”.

While expressing  optimism that the  selected speakers for the  colloquium would do justice to the theme, he asserted that , “  nobody is coming to build Nigeria for us just like we did not assist any other country in building their country into whatever it is today. 

“We decided as Nigerians,to make Nigeria work and not  sink. We decided to bring together stakeholders and brainstorm on what we need to do and build a Nigerian of our dreams, a Nigeria you and I can be proud of, a Nigeria where there is prosperity, peace, progress and  unity. A Nigeria that is a place where we can all achieve our dreams, our aspirations, and our goals”.