Political economist Prof Pat Utomi will lead a team of discussants to discuss prospects of reshaping the Nigerian economy amidst dwindling oil prices at the second Media Conference of the School of Media & Communication, Pan Atlantic University and the Natural Resource Governance Institute. The event would hold Wednesday, April 13, at the Honeywell Auditorium of the Lagos Business School, Ajah.

Other speakers are Mr Gbenga Onayiga and the dean of the School of Media and Communication, Dr Ikechukwu Obiaya.

Discussants come from the oil industry, the media, development finance institutions and the academia.

Discussants include Mr Martin Ayankola, Editor of The Punch, Dr Kwima Nthara, an economist with the World Bank, Mr Toyin Akinosho, Publisher of Africa Oil & Gas Report and Dr Austin Nweze of the Pan Atlantic University.

Organised by the School of Media and Communication, Pan-Atlantic University, in collaboration with the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), the one-day seminar will engender discussions aimed at articulating survival strategies and options available for Nigeria at the wake of the current fiscal realities. More importantly, the seminar hopes to enlist the media in articulating these strategies, and in ensuring sustained good governance in Nigeria.

According to a statement by the Director of Executive Education, School of Media & Communication, Pan Atlantic University, Isaac Ogugua Ezechukwu, “The seminar will examine key issues around the implications of oil price decline on the Nigerian economy, what the government’s response in terms of its policy positions should be, and how the media can contribute to key decisions necessary to bringing about overall reforms in the oil sector and consequently growth and development in the economy.”

The organisers hope that the conference “will also provide a platform for reawakening the media to its watchdog and agenda-setting role of ensuring better governance of Nigeria’s natural resources and its overall economy.”

•Photo shows Prof Utomi.

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