With 13 speakers, Nigeria to dominate TEDGlobal 2017

Of the 38 innovators and bright minds expected to make an appearance at TEDGlobal 2017, Nigeria has the highest representation with 13 speakers.

The list of the speakers billed for the event scheduled to hold in August in Arusha, Tanzania, was published on CNN on Thursday.

With representation from various African countries including Paul Kagame, president of Rwanda, the event boasts of speakers from various spheres of life.

Here is the list of Nigerians speaking at the event:

• Olutimehin Adegbeye – Forced evictions along the Lagos lagoon
• Yvonne Chioma Mbanefo – African languages (whose ‘Okowaokwu Igbo Umuaka: Igbo Dictionary for Children’ became an Amazon bestseller a day after publication)
• Chika Ezeanya Esiobu – Traditional institutes solving problems
• Dayo Ogunyemi – Cultural production
• Qudus Onikeku – Talk/performance. Dancer/promoting culture
• Bibi Bakare-Yusuf – Book publisher (Cassava Republic co-founder)
• Oshiorenoya Agabi – AI and biology
• Ndidi Nwuneli – Scaling philanthropy
• Olufemi Taiwo – Historian/philosopher
• Nnedi Okorafor – Writer African science fiction (whose novel, Who Fears Death, is currently being adapted into an HBO series by Game of Thrones author, George R.R. Martin)
• Leo Igwe – Fighting superstition
• Kingsley Moghalu – Industralisation
• Ike Ude – Art/photography

The speakers are expected to spark ideas and creatively solve problems peculiar to their environment.

Other Nigerians who have previously spoken at the annual event include Chimamanda Ngozi-Adichie and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

The last time the international event held in Africa was in 2007 in Kenya.