TheCable

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo is billed to speak at a Grand Africa Initiative (GAIN) youth summit scheduled to hold between October 29 and 30.

The summit is organised with the collaboration of the AfreximBank, the embassy of the Republic of Guinea, and GAIN, a pan-African non-governmental organisation (NGO).

GAIN’s annual gathering of youths is focused on developing entrepreneurship, innovation, professional and academic capacities in young Africans as a means of tackling unemployment and conflict on the continent.

“This year’s edition of the summit will feature Nigeria’s Vice-President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, SAN as the special guest of honour with Nigeria’s minister of youth and sports, Hon Sunday Dare, as well as the CEO of Tony Elumelu Foundation, Mrs Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu, delivering keynote speeches,” Chinwe Okoli, GAIN executive director, said in a statement on Thursday.

“Other confirmed speakers include British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing; the High Commissioner of South Africa to Nigeria, Mr Thami Mseleku; Ambassador of Angola to Nigeria, Dr Januario Eustaquio Quibato; the High Commissioner of Namibia to Nigeria, Mr Humphrey Geiseb; the Lead Faculty, Tekedia Institute, Professor Ndubuisi Ekekwe; Regional Head, IBM North, East and West Africa, IBM, Angela Kyerematen-Jimoh; Marketing and Communications Coordinator, Microsoft philanthropies, Middle East & Africa & Philanthropies Lead for Nigeria, Microsoft, Mr Yemi Orimolade, among others.”

Okoli said the summit will focus on portraying the economic potentials of young Africans in order to build sustainable prosperity on the continent.

“We are very happy that a number of eminent Africans and global players have signed up to partner with us on this edition of the summit. We are especially grateful to the vice-president of the federal republic of Nigeria and other speakers who have made the time to join us at the summit,” she said.

“We also appreciate our partners, Afrexim Bank, DBN and the Embassy of the Republic of Guinea for their support towards the summit.

“The issues around restiveness, conflict, illegal migration and so on we believe are fuelled by the lack of economic opportunities driven by a lack of awareness and support for entrepreneurship and innovation across the continent.”