Activities
to mark the 75th birthday of Prof. Akin Mabogunje, Africa's
pre-eminent urbanist and former Cities Alliance Policy Advisory
Board member, are scheduled to kick off this weekend in Abuja,
Nigeria. This milestone birthday provides a platform of
opportunity for Prof. Mabogunje's friends, admirers and urban
practitioners worldwide to come together to celebrate his
enormous contribution to urban development in general and to
Africa in particular. A specially established PAMP committee,
comprising international and local urban experts has been hard
at work for the past three years working with various groups,
including the Nigerian government, UN-Habitat and the Cities
Alliance on the organization of aspects of the three-day event.
These include a national programme of honours starting Friday,
October 20 where Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo, will
present an award to his erstwhile presidential adviser, as part
of this year's World Habitat Day Awards. President Obasanjo will
also formally launch a new publication, Foundations for Urban
Development in Africa: The Legacy of Akin Mabogunje,
specially prepared and published by the Cities Alliance and
UN-Habitat as a tribute to Prof. Mabogunje.
This will be immediately followed by a seminar on "Emerging
Urban Africa," to be chaired by Lindiwe Sisulu, Minister of
Housing, Republic of South Africa, Abdullahi Adamu, Executive
Governor of Nassarawa State, Nigeria, Yousef Hiasat, Cities
Alliance Policy Advisory Board member and CEO, Beit -Al-Mal
Savings and Housing Investment, Amman, Jordan, Bola Ahmed Tinubu,
Governor of Lagos State, Nigeria, and with speakers drawn from a
broad spectrum of academia, donor agencies, bilateral
governments and civil society organizations that deal with urban
issues in Africa. Other guests expected at the event include Dr.
Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director of UN-Habitat; and, Eustace
Ouayoro, a sector manager of the World Bank's African water and
urban development programme, Washington, DC.
