Obasanjo, Others To Grace Airtel's Night of Influence

Former Nigeria President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, will lead a cast of prominent Nigerians from the private and public sectors to the Airtel Night of Influence, a high profile gathering of Nigeria's best and the brightest, which will be headlined by famous CNN anchor, Dr Fareed Zakaria on Sunday, November 18, 2012 in Lagos.

Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonko-Iweala, and the immediate past Vice President of World Bank for Africa and director of Bharti Airtel Group, Mrs. Kathryn Obiageli Ezekwesili, are among some pre-eminent Nigerians who have

confirmed their attendance of the event.
No fewer than six governors are expected at the event that would feature leading captains of industry and key players in governance, business, entertainment, education and other sectors of the economy.

The Airtel Night of Influence is a high-octane networking platform provided by the leading telecommunications services provider for interaction and discourse on issues in the Nigerian and African political economy.

It is slated for Sunday, November 18th, 2012 at the prestigious Eko Hotel & Suites in Victoria Island, Lagos.

Zakaria, anchor of the political economy programme on CNN, GPS, has confirmed to speak on the theme: Africa's Political Economy: The Challenge of Leadership. He will bring on hand rich insights into the continent's economy and its interactions with the global socio-economic and political landscape.

About 500 influential men and women drawn from both the private and public sectors within and outside Nigeria as well as top politicians and government officials will be attending the event.

Fareed Rafiq Zakaria is an Indian-American journalist and author. From 2000 to 2010, he was a columnist for Newsweek and editor of Newsweek International. In 2010, he became editor-at-large of Time Magazine.

He is the host of CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS. He is also a frequent commentator and author on issues related to international relations, trade and American foreign policy.

Zakaria attended the Cathedral and John Connon School in Mumbai. He received a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University, where he was president of the Yale Political Union, editor-in-chief of the Yale Political Monthly, a member of the Scroll and Key society, and a member of the Party of the Right. He later earned a Doctor of Philosophy in political science from Harvard University in 1993, where he studied under Samuel P. Huntington and Stanley Hoffmann, as well as international relations theorist Robert Keohane.