Ailing Economy: Utomi, Usman, Others to Brainstorm at Lagos Summit

Dele Ogbodo in Abuja

The former Minister of National Planning, Dr. Shamshudeen Usman, political economist, Prof. Pat Utomi, the Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Nubuke Investments, Tutu Agyare and other development experts have been slated to brainstorm on solutions to the country’s ailing economy in the forthcoming 2016 International CEOs Economic Summit (ICES) billed for Lagos.

A statement jointly signed by ICES Coordinators, Messrs. Charles Nicholas and Tajudeen Kareem, made available to the media yesterday in Abuja, said the event is coming as the democratic space has made business a powerful voice in proffering solutions towards lifting the ailing Nigerian economy out of the woods.

According to the statement, the session would bring together business executives, industry and economic experts, government regulators and investment opportunities, adding that the ICE Summit intends to identify opportunities where businesses can add value to the growth of the economy.
The statement read: “It is to this end that the International CEOs’ Economic Summit, ICE 2016, is being organized by The CEO Business Journal to break the afore-mentioned pattern of conventional business summits and decisively raise the bar on business and commercial activities in Nigeria.

“ICE 2016 summit has as its theme; “Promoting A Private-Sector Driven Economy Through Partnerships. The summit will serve as a platform for promoting international commerce and partnerships through business to business matchmaking; proffer economic strategies that will create a more healthy economy; attract investments; utilise idea sharing and knowledge transfer; create jobs, as well as grow the country’s small and medium scale enterprises (SME).”

The statement added: “The summit will focus on strategising on issues and areas that are common to our various countries of operation such as import and exports, telecoms and broadband, technology/new media, energy, agriculture, franchising and manufacturing, affording its participants a wide array of extraordinary opportunities not yet tapped.”