Former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has been selected to give the keynote speech of the United States Nigerian Lawyers Association (NLA) Merit Awards Dinner scheduled for New York on October 29.
According to an announcement by Nexus U Sea, president of the association, GEJ is to give the speech at the event which tickets are on sale on the NLA website.
“Early Bird tickets are $100 for NLA Members and $130 for Non-Members. We recommend that you purchase your tickets before Standard Rates apply. The Early Bird period will expire on August 31, 2016 at 11:59PM. Standard Rates are $130 for NLA Members and $160 for Non-Members. The ticket price for everyone at the Door will be $180,” Nexus Sea said.
The venue of the event is the 630 Second Ballroom, at 630 Second Avenue.
Other notable Nigerians who had attended the event in the past, iclude “Professor Wole Soyinka, a 1986 Noble Laureate in Literature, and world-renowned writer, poet and playwright; Professor Chinua Achebe, world-renowned writer and author of the award-winning novel (Things Fall Apart); and Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former World Bank Managing Director and former Nigerian Minister of Finance.”
NLA said in its website that the annual Merit Awards Dinner are held “to celebrate the achievements of distinguished individuals who have made outstanding contributions in the legal profession and towards the advancement of public and community service, and to give out scholarships to law students of color from across the country, based on need and merit.”
It was not clear what would be the theme of Jonathan’s address to the Nigerian lawyers, but the former has often harped on what his administration achieved for the country, a respectable way to counter the hugely native perception bof it by the Nigerian people egged by the incumbent administration.
In the next few weeks, he is scheduled to launch his foundation, the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation, which he announced last year in a letter to former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Despite the negative media perception at home, the former President is said to highly appreciated abroad for doing what few African leaders have done: conceding defeat and relinquishing peacefully.
