Metropolitan Club Hosts BrandiQ 2015 symposium

Metropolitan Club Hosts BrandiQ 2015 symposium

 

A HOSPITALITY CENTER IN NIGERIA

Metropolitan Club, Victoria Island, Lagos will play host to the 2015 BrandiQ symposium slated for Wednesday, November 4, the event planning committee has confirmed.

The Metropolitan Club, located at 15, Kofo Abayomi Street, just beside the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) is a premium gathering point for elites in Nigeria’s leading commercial hub, Lagos. Established in 1959, Metropolitan Club has established for itself an enviable reputation as a gentlemen’s club, offering its members one of the best facilities for private dining in Lagos in an agreeable and convivial setting. It had the good fortune of having as its first President Sir Adetokunbo Ademola, who was then the Chief Justice of Nigeria. It was he who, with the enthusiastic support of his Nigerian and expatriate colleagues, carefully nurtured the Club in its formative years.

According to the planning committee of the symposium, this year’s event, which is the third in the series, is a continuation of BrandiQ's determination to raise the level of public discourse – especially in the area of governance, the economy and citizens responsibility.

This year’s event is themed “Reinventing Brand Nigeria for the 21st Century Market Economy through Public Accountability and Responsible Citizenship.” Eminent speakers have been invited to present papers at this special forum. Former Minister of Education and Senior Economic Advisor of Open Society Foundation, Dr. ObyEzekwesili will be the guest speaker at the symposium while the keynote address will be delivered by the Vice President of Nigeria, Professor YemiOsinbajo.

Other speakers invited as discussants who would dissect various issues thrown up by the Guest Speaker include,  Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, Governor, Kaduna State; Prof. ChidiOdinkalu – Chairman, Nigerian Human Rights Commission;  Prof. EmevwoBiakolo – Director, PhD Programme, Pan Atlantic University, Lagos;  and Prof. Abubakar  Momoh – DG, The Electoral Institute, Abuja.

As a recognized platform for public discourse, the BrandiQ Symposium has provided a robust and deliberative platform for eminent and respectable Nigerians to intervene in public discourse verging on national issues as they concern Brand Nigeria. Indeed, most analysts agree that the BrandiQ symposium has attracted to its platform eminent scholars, public officials, top institutions, distinguished business executives and seasoned professionals from both the private and public sectors including students of tertiary institutions.

Commenting on the essence of the 2015 symposium, Editor-in-Chief of BrandiQ and Chairman of the Organising Committee, Mr. Desmond Ekeh said, “this year’s event is planned to be bigger and bolder in confronting the core issues that hinder Nigeria’s cultural, political and socio-economic development. A time has come to expand the space for national deliberation and engagement through the ‘Habermasian Communication Action’ which stresses the need for a consensual and symmetric form of discourse amongst all stakeholders. This begins with constructive public discourse about Nigeria and her people. This is the reason for the BrandiQ Symposium”.