Muhammad Dattijo appointed as an associate as Reading University's Dunning Africa Centre

KADUNA State's commissioner for budget and planning Muhammad Dattijo has been appointed as an associate and founding member of the Dunning Africa Centre of the University of Reading's Henley Business School.

Making the announcement, Rajneesh Narula the director of both the Dunning Africa Centre and the John Dunning Centre for international business noted that Muhammad Sani Abdullahi Dattijo was an astute scholar. He added that Mr Dattijo, a former chief of staff to the Kaduna State governor, is an erudite development economist and one of the shining lights of the state.

Mr Narula said: “We believe that your experience and background would not only enhance our profile but that in the longer run, your ongoing work helps contribute to our objectives to improve the business environment in African countries. The Dunning Africa Centre will emphasise both conceptual and applied research with the aim of optimising the engagement of African firms and governments with the forces of globalization, particularly those relating to trade and foreign direct investment.”

Other notable appointees include Andrew Mold, the acting director of the sub-regional office for East Africa of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and Professor Aloysius Newenham-Kahindi, a Canada Research chair in international sustainable development at the Gustavson Business School, University of Victoria in Canada. Also appointed was Dr Helena Barnard, a professor at the Gordon Institute of Business Science of the University of Pretoria in South Africa.

Mr Dattijo, who currently serves as a member of the World Bank Expert Advisory Council on Citizen Engagement, was a policy adviser at the Executive Office of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon in New York before his appointment in Kaduna State.

Dunning Africa Centre has a threefold objective which includes nurturing academic researchers in management, business studies and economics interested in globalisation, as well as acting as a virtual hub that promotes collaboration between research institutions, universities and businesses to study the impact of globalization and international business. These are in addition to offering short, intensive courses to help managers and policymakers across Africa to handle these challenges.