The member representing Bende Federal Constituency and the Spokesperson of the House, Rep. Benjamin Kalu who was specifically nominated and partly sponsored by the organisers of the event, having closely followed his legislative work at the National Assembly Nigeria joined the Speaker, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila and a few selected legislators from Africa to attend the Governance and Economic Development Program (GED) organized by the Centre for International Trade Development (CITD), The international Economic Forum of the Americas, World Trade Center Miami and Miami Herbert Business School holding in Miami, Florida from October 31st to November 4th, 2022.
The 5-day executive program is designed for African legislators, key cabinet members, and top government officials to advance leadership excellence in the public sector, promote responsible governance, and develop more effective public leaders who will address the complex governance and economic development challenges of the African continent. The program speaks to developing growth solutions and empowering legislators to deliver greater value for their constituencies.
Rep. Benjamin Kalu who was one of the few legislators selected to attend the program with the Speaker expressed delight for such a forum to explore the great networking opportunities which the program provides, opportunity to learn from the successes and wealth of knowledge of other key stake holders, fostering strategic partnerships with International NGOs and private sector investors in addressing some economic problems currently facing Bende Federal Constituency of Abia State. Some of these challenges which include but not limited to agricultural Investment leveraging the massive arable land of Bende, solving environmental security, a major concern as a result of the soil topography, and climate change which has led to dangerous ecological landslides, erosions among others.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila who participated as a panelist at the event while speaking on restoring trust in supply chains carefully highlighted the opportunities in Nigeria and the need to partner with nations in the diversification efforts across the globe insisting that a disruption in the supply chain of the smallest village in Africa might affect the world as it leans towards globalization. This partnership does not necessarily means loans but could be in exchange of primary products for infrastructural development preparing Africa for the pending great economic shift waiting to happen.
The Mayor of the city of Miami Florida, Francis X. Suarez also speaking at the event proposed that a wider definition of globalization should include interdependency and interconnectivity among all nations ensuring that the global community is built in a sustainable manner as each is a part of the whole.
There were productive private engagements with potential investors and the Speaker and his team did a great job of projecting the nation for increased investor’s confidence and resultant national economic growth.
The program continues at the University of Miami’s Herbert Business School where the participants will continue the discussion on the core principles of good governance and effective leadership.
