Professor Umar Garba Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), is to deliver the 2020 edition of The Bullion Lecture scheduled for 10am on Thursday, March 26, 2020 at The Civic Centre, Ozumba Mbadiwe Avenue, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The Bullion Lecture is Nigeria’s flagship intellectual lecture which from inception had been delivered by outstanding professors and international thought leaders. Last year’s edition was delivered by Dr. Benedict Oramah, President, Afrexim Bank. Professor Akpan Hogan Ekpo delivered the maiden edition while Professor Kingsley Moghalu delivered the last but one lecture.

Professor Danbatta is a renowned scholar, an erudite engineer, astute administrator, philanthropist, and a nation builder per excellence. He holds BEng and MSc degrees from the Technical University of Wroclaw in Poland, and PhD from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, United Kingdom.

Until his appointment as EVC/CEO of NCC, Professor Danbatta was a lecturer in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Technology, Bayero University, Kano, for 32 years, where he taught courses in telecommunications engineering and electronics and held academic positions of Dean of the Faculty and Head of Department at different times.

Professor Danbatta will be speaking on Telecoms, Digital Banking and Nigeria’s Economic Development.

The Bullion Lecture, a platform conceptualised by Centre for Financial Journalism (CFJ Nigeria) for lively discourse on national and international issues, is always delivered by first-rate academics and professionals.

According to a press statement issued in Lagos by Ray Echebiri, Founder/Chief Executive Officer of CFJ Nigeria, the Lecture will be chaired by Dr. Segun Aina, President, Africa FinTech Network and former President/Chairman of Council, The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria.

Distinguished panelists who will dissect the lecture are Mrs. Chizor Malize, Managing Director/Chief Executive Office of Financial Institutions Training Centre, and Mr. AdeRemi Atanda, Executive Director, SystemSpecs Limited.

Expected guests at the lecture include government officials, captains of industry, banking industry executives, ICT professionals, members of the diplomatic corps, representatives of multilateral institutions, senior media executives and other journalists, and members of the public.

CFJ Nigeria, organisers of The Bullion Lecture, was established to provide bespoke training programmes in financial journalism with a view to addressing the knowledge and skills gap in the practice of the trade, and to conduct research in financial journalism, business, the economy, development and banking and finance.