Professor Florence Banku Obi, Vice Chancellor of the University of Calabar, is to deliver the 2024 edition of The Bullion Lecture. The lecture is scheduled for 10am on Thursday, April 18, 2024 at The Civic Centre, Ozumba Mbadiwe Avenue, Victoria Island, Lagos. The theme of the lecture is Human Capital Development as Catalyst for Nigeria’s Prosperity.

 Obi is a high-ranking professor of fifteen (15) years with over 60 publications to her credit in both local and international peer-reviewed journals of high repute. She has supervised over 30 Postgraduate Diploma projects, 14 Master’s Degree theses and nine Ph.D dissertations, and has so far assessed 16 persons for professorial positions. She has been in the academia for more than three (3) decades, and has been an external examiner, assessor and visiting professor to several universities within and beyond the shores of Nigeria.

Obi was Commissioner, Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, and a member of Cross River State Executive Council.

An alumna of the University of Calabar, Obi has served as Dean and Deputy (Faculty of Education), Deputy Director and Head of Department of Environmental Education. She is also the only two-time back-to-back elected Dean of the Faculty of Education since the history of the University. As Dean, she pioneered the take-off of 22 NUC-approved affiliate programmes of the Federal College of Education, Obudu, Cross River State, and the Federal College of Education, Katsina-Ala, Benue State, to the Faculty of Education of the University of Calabar.

In a press statement in Lagos, Dr. Ray Echebiri, Founder/Chief Executive Officer of Centre for Financial Journalism, the organisers of The Bullion Lecture, said “we are excited to have Professor Obi, a human capital development expert, deliver the 8^th in The Bullion Lecture series on an issue that is central to our country’s prosperity”. Recalling that the Federal Government recently set up a committee to drive human capital development in the country, Dr. Echebiri said Professor Obi’s presentation at the lecture will be forwarded to the committee as a very vital input.

The lecture will be chaired by another first-rate scholar and human capital development expert, Professor Ademola S. Tayo. Tayo is the President/Vice Chancellor of Babcock University. Tayo is also on the Governing Council of four Universities – Adeleke University, Ede, Nigeria; Adventist University of Africa, Nairobi, Kenya; Clifford University, Owerrinta, Nigeria; Babcock University, Ilisan-Remo, Nigeria. It was under Tayo’s stewardship as Dean, School of Post Graduate Studies, that Babcock University graduated its first set of postgraduates.

Distinguished panelists that will dissect the lecture are Mrs. Kanyinsola Mba, Head of Human Capital Management, Oando Energy Resources Limited and Mr. Tim Akano, Founder/Chief Executive of New Horizons Nigeria.

Expected guests at the lecture include government officials, captains of industry, banking and finance executives, maritime executives, legal practitioners, ICT professionals, oil and gas industry executives, members of the academic community, members of the diplomatic corps, representatives of multilateral institutions, media practitioners, and members of the public.