CU holds Public Lecture on Financial Sector Maladaptation,
Resource Curse and Nigeria Development Dilemma

How the Nigerian financial system has failed to develop over the years in a manner to be suitably adapted to the developmental needs of the country and the implication of the nation’s rich natural resources, which has become an albatross on the social and economic growth of the nation, will be the main highlight at Covenant University’s ninth public lecture on Thursday, January 25, 2007.

The lecture, titled, "Financial Sector Maladaptation, Resource Curse and Nigerian Development Dilemma", will be delivered by a renowned financial management expert, Professor Joshua Adewale Thompson Ojo.

Prof Ojo, who is currently the Head of Department of Banking and Finance, was formerly the Dean, College of Business and Social Sciences of the University.

A Professor of Banking and Finance, Prof Ojo has assisted Covenant University in putting up the proposal for instituting the University’s Centre for Wealth Creation. He is the Chair of the Senate Business Committee as well as the Chair of the Board of the Centre for Entrepreneurial Studies of the University.

Before joining Covenant University in 2004, Prof Ojo was at various times the Dean of Business Administration (1988 – 1992 and 1994 – 1995) and the Director of Distance Learning Institute (1995-2001) at the University of Lagos.

Prof Ojo also had a successful banking career at the former Barclays Bank (now Union Bank) from 1961 to 1965 and a stint in public service in the former Western State of Nigeria where he served as Government Auditor in the Audit Department, from 1968 to 1975. He was also a senior International Money and Financial Analyst at the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Secretariat in Vienna, Austria.

He was on three occasions a visiting Professor at the University of Bayreuth in Germany between July 1990 and August 1996. He has served as External Examiner for most Universities in Nigeria and Zimbabwe. He was a consultant, World Bank / Central Bank of Nigeria countrywide survey on Rural Financial Institutions in Nigeria 1996/1997; Consultant to various projects of the Central Bank of Nigeria, and Consultant to Community Banks in Lagos State. He was awarded the Association of Community Banks Merit Award in December 2001.

Professor Ojo is a member of the Nigerian Institute of Management; Nigerian Economic Society; West African Economic Association and President, Nigeria Finance Association (1987-1994). He is a Fellow of both the Institute of Management Consultants (FIMC) and Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (FCIB). He is also a member of the International Council of Small Business (ICSB).

The Public lecture will be chaired by the Chancellor of Covenant University, Dr David Oyedepo, and the venue is the University Chapel, Canaan land, Ota.

Detailed Citation on Prof. J. A. T. Ojo