By Gbenga Olorunpomi
The 5th Annual Bola Tinubu Colloquium will hold on Thursday the 28th of March, 2013, at the Shell Hall, Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos. The theme for the colloquium is ‘Beyond Mergers: A National Movement for Change, A New Generation Speaks!’
The Annual Bola Tinubu Colloquium was an idea conceived by close friends and associates of Bola Tinubu to institutionalize a platform for discourse on salient issues of national importance. At this year’s colloquium, the “National Movement for Change” (NM4C) will be formally presented to the public.
The objective of the NM4C is to mobilize a new generation of voices across the country to actively engage the political space and eventually cause change in the way the country is being governed.
M4NC seeks to groom this new generation of politically and socially conscious individuals to impact their environment effectively using new media to spread their message. The M4NC is non-partisan and is expected to be driven by the will of politically and socially conscious young Nigerians and members of civil society.
According to a statement by the colloquium planning committee chaired by His Excellency, the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN:
“A few weeks ago, major opposition parties in Nigeria came together in a merger to form the All Progressive Congress, (APC) a party which it is hoped, will provide a real alternative to the ruling party. The optimism for the future that this development has engendered has also somewhat excited the thought that perhaps this might be an opportunity for a more broad-based movement for true national transformation.
“This year, the Colloquium seeks to create a platform for encouraging that possibility. Part of the strategy for achieving this is to bring some new and younger voices to the table to interrogate ways by which the political space can be made more inclusive, especially how our increasingly cynical youth can become involved in a national movement to save the republic.”
The lead presenter Femi Edun, will speak broadly about the Economy highlighting the issues of Poverty and the Nigerian State.
Other speakers that have confirmed their participation include: Hafsat Abiola-Costello, who will speak on “The Millennium Development Goals: where are we in the race and how can we go faster?”, Bankole Wellington (Banky W) will discuss New Media and how this can help shape the ideas for the national movement for change while Myani Bukar will speak to the issues of citizenship and identity.
Kola Oyeneyin, a social entrepreneur and convener of ‘Sleeves-Up’, will highlight the responsibilities of the older generation to the younger generation in charting a course for change.
The 5th Bola Tinubu Colloquium is in celebration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s 61st birthday. The event is to be chaired by Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka.
You can join the discussion via social media by tweeting at @NM4CNigeria, using the hash tag #NM4C and by joining the page Facebook.com/NM4CNigeria. The event will be streamed live online at http://bolatinubucolloquium.org/
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