Enugu, Asaba-Ibuzo, and Lagos are the main cities where associates of renowned scholar and public intellectual Prof Pat Utomi gather to celebrate his 70th birthday on 6 February 2026.
Further celebrations will be held in Abuja and Kaduna.
The celebration of Utomi’s three score and ten will include intellectual feasts for the mind, bringing together academics and practising leaders, as well as other mind-engaging events.
Activities will begin on 4 February 2026, with the CVL Annual Lecture Symposium at the Amadeo Event Centre, Ebeano Tunnel, Enugu.
Dr Ameena Gurib-Fakim, the sixth and first female president of Mauritius, will be the keynote speaker. Wankele Mene, Chief Executive of the Africa Free Trade Area, and Dr George Elombi, President of Afrexim Bank, will deliver associate keynotes.
Panel discussions will commence with leaders from ‘Why Nations Fail’, co-author and 2024 Nobel Prize winner for Economics, Prof James Robinson, and Prof Paul Collier of Oxford University, who authored ‘The Bottom Billion’ and was the keynote speaker at the CVL Annual Lecture in 2017.
Panellists are Abia State Governor Dr Alex Otti, Enugu State Governor Dr Peter Ndubuisi Mbah, Prof Fred Olayele, former Chief Economist for New York and Dr Kandeh Yumkella, former Director General of UNIDO and previous CVL symposium keynote speaker.
Also on the panel are Prof Osita Ogbu, Alan John Kyerematen, and BD professor Franklin Ngwu, who will moderate. Former Pencom CEO MK Ahmad will chair proceedings in Enugu.
Igwe Nnaemeka Alfred Ugochukwu Achebe (CFR, mni), the Obi of Onitsha, will preside over the birthday lecture to be delivered by Africa’s foremost industrialist, Dr Aliko Dangote, in Asaba on 6th February.
Panellists include Chief Leemon Ikpea, Dr Austin Avuru, Rainoil Limited founder Dr Gabriel Ogbechie, and Deacon Chris Iyowaye, with a theme on venturing into the Oil and Gas value chain. Others are Casimir Maduafokwa, Franklin Ngwu who will moderate and Alfred Okoigun of the Arco group.
The Vice Chancellor of the Pan Atlantic University, Prof Enase Okonedo, will chair the Lagos finale on 8 February.
Fr George Ehusani of Lux Terra has indicated that the Abuja events on the same track will take place two weeks later, followed by the closing Thanksgiving in Kaduna, where Prof Utomi was born 70 years ago.
