After our final assembly on November 4, 2022, I tweeted: “For his genius, sure, however extra importantly for the ‘excessive octane’ worth he persistently brings to the general public area, Prof @MoghaluKingsley is a treasure. I love Prof an incredible deal, and he is aware of this, however I’ll save the opposite compliments for his diamond jubilee.” I intend to maintain that promise with this tribute.
Earlier than I had the chance of assembly him, I had identified simply as a lot as anybody can a few public determine of his stature. Then someday in 2021, one among my mentors despatched a WhatsApp message which was culled from a newspaper publication. In that piece, Moghalu shared his story, and the way a specific letter of advice from Professor Bolaji Akinyemi introducing him as “future chief in Africa” to the Fletcher Faculty of Regulation and Diplomacy at Tufts College, set him on an unimaginable trajectory in life.
It is a story I’ve since turn into so aware of and even referenced in some remarks I’ve given since then. He additionally talked in regards to the different folks, alternatives and values that made a big distinction in his life. After studying that article, his ebook on ‘Rising Africa’, and watching a ton of his speeches and lectures (from way back to ten years in the past in some circumstances), I regarded ahead to assembly him. After which it occurred on Could 12, 2022. That is as transient as I will be in plotting the provenance of our relationship.
When he declared his curiosity to contest for the workplace of the president in 2021, I rooted for him as a result of to my thoughts, he embodied the beliefs of a frontrunner who is ready to dream up prospects, fireplace up the imaginations of Nigerians and had the capability to attain important outcomes.
He was, merely, a person you’d be proud to have as president. He had a singular worldview and perspective that lots of these within the presidential line-up on the time clearly didn’t have. For my part, the foremost features of the president had been greatest articulated by him which he outlined as follows: nation-building, nationwide safety, nationwide economic system and managing Nigeria’s overseas affairs.
This was a refreshingly completely different narrative in a society the place the workplace of the president is commonly seen as the last word elevation within the political hierarchy or the vortex of ‘nationwide cake’ allocation.
Maybe probably the most attention-grabbing spotlight of our relationship until date was his acceptance to ship the 2022 Babcock College Convocation Lecture. I’d served in a committee given the project to advocate some audio system, one among whom the college administration might resolve on to ship the lecture.
On completion of the project, I had expressed my place that I believed that Prof would do the perfect job as a result of he had, greater than others, spoken and written extra persistently in regards to the proposed themes of the lecture – “Information, Imaginative and prescient, Ardour and Innovation within the Context of Nigeria’s Growth”.
He delivered a most incisive lecture on how Nigeria can work its means again to relevance, on the core of which is a ‘worldview’ that may undergird our means to interrogate with the world on our personal phrases. I’m humbled to have had the honour of introducing him on that day.
Whereas Moghalu’s journey within the political enviornment could form the body with which many younger folks have come to know him, his stature as a first-rate creator, scholar, speaker, diplomat, lawyer, banker and political economist is unshakeable. He has since taken a stroll from politics and has chosen as an alternative to contribute worth as a personal citizen.
This, for my part, is an effort he has carried out brilliantly by the Institute for Governance and Financial Transformation (IGET) – the general public coverage assume tank which he leads, and his many interventions on problems with nationwide import each on mainstream and social media. As a a lot youthful good friend, I make it a degree of obligation to learn all his views within the papers and watch all interviews on nationwide and worldwide media platforms.
Learn additionally: Moghalu disagrees with IMF’s call for tax increase
He’s a gentleman of a uncommon and distinctive mould, and definitely, an achieved man. He holds a Doctorate diploma holder in Worldwide Relations from the London Faculty of Economics (LSE). He’s an Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON), a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers (FCIB), a recipient of the Physician of Legal guidelines (LL.D) Honoris Causa, and holds the normal title of Ifekaego of Nnewi Kingdom. He has delivered lectures at among the world’s main universities. These, positively, say loads.
At 60 years, Prof has many exceptional achievements for which he will be proud. He labored exhausting and diligently, served his nation and the world, and he continues to encourage many who’re coming behind. I’ve had the privilege of interacting with him just a few occasions and by the standard of his thought, his ardour to see his nation matter within the worldwide enviornment, and the worth he persistently presents within the public sphere, he’s a nationwide treasure. I consider he nonetheless has extra worth to supply this nation and our continent.
On this big day, I’m completely satisfied to hitch others in Nigeria and around the globe in wishing Professor Kingsley, Bosah, Chiedu, Ayodele Moghalu a cheerful sixtieth birthday!
Akinnuga, MNIIA, ARPA, is a guide on communications and public affairs.