Boris Johnson to Deliver 2023 Anyiam-Osigwe Lecture

Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Member of Parliament, Boris Johnson will address the 16th session of the Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe annual lecture series.

The former UK leader will address the august gathering in Lagos on March 27, 2023, coming after the last edition that was addressed by the President Muhammadu Buhari.

While announcing the 2023 event, Acting Coordinator-General of Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe Foundation, George Anyiam-Osigwe noted that the former UK Prime Minister joins a list of several distinguished men and women who have served as keynote speakers at the Foundation’s annual Lecture.

They include: F.W. de Klerk, former President of South Africa; Shimon Peres, former Prime Minister and President of Israel; former American Vice-President Al Gore and his wife, Tipper Gore; His Majesty, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the 16th Asantehene of Ghana; John Major, former British Prime Minister; Helmut Kohl, former Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany; Cherie Blair (QC), wife of the then British Prime Minister; Fernando Cardoso, former President of Brazil; Alexander Kwasniewski, former President of Poland; Vaclav Klaus, President of the Czech Republic; His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso; Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, former President of Sri Lanka; General Pervez Musharraf, former president of Pakistan and Joyce Banda, former President of Malawi.

The Acting Coordinator-General said Johnson will bring to bear his experiential knowledge as one of the significant international statesmen of the 21st century to examine the central theme of the lecture, “Rehumanising Human Experience: A Synopsis of Anyiam-Osigwe’s treatises.”

George Anyiam-Osigwe adds: “The former Mayor of London and former UK Foreign Secretary, through his Keynote address, will offer solutions to some of the global challenges that are currently plaguing the world, stoking citizens’ frustrations and anger.”

On the choice of Boris Johnson, the Acting Coordinator-General said the former PM was chosen for his courage, extensive and practical knowledge in confronting some world knotty domestic and global problems such as Brexit, COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war during his premiership.

“We considered him the right person to speak to the theme of Rehumanising the world. The world has gone through serious upheavals in the last two decades; from the civil war in Syria, political instability in parts of Africa, Brexit that has really tested United Kingdom and the entire European Union, trade war between China and America and the COVID-19 pandemic that shut down the entire world for more than a year with attendant social and economic dislocation.

“Former Prime Minister Johnson is one of the active global leaders of the last decade who had to deal with some of these problems and led the world through a once in a century pandemic. We are of the strong view that our country and the world can benefit from his experience and perspectives.”

Johnson is a champion of democracy, freedom and free market capitalism, and believes that the sheer innovative power of the west will take us through the ramifications of the war on Ukraine and post-covid shocks, and will defeat struggling authoritarian regimes.

He believes technology, driven by free market democracies, will ultimately defeat our biggest challenges on health, science and global warming.

He argues that in the 21st century, countries must be able to deregulate and be as competitive as possible. That is why Boris Johnson successfully campaigned for Brexit – taking back control of UK law, marking the biggest constitutional change for half a century, and enabling the UK to generate the fastest vaccine approval in the world and the fastest vaccine rollout in Europe – with all the subsequent economic benefits.

Johnson is the kind of politician who takes risks for the principles of democracy, freedom and free markets, and stands alongside those fighting against authoritarian regimes.