Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, is among a high-powered panel scheduled to discuss new pathways to African growth and development at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) New World Forum set for Paris later this week.

The discussion, tagged "Africa: The Future is Now" will explore whether Africa is taking off in general or through isolated cases.

"It will also explore the champions and engines of success in Africa while also interrogating obstacles to growth and the place of the middle class in providing sustainable development," Muideen Akorede, the Senior Special Assistant to the governor on Media and Communication, said.

He added Ahmed would discuss functional education and entrepreneurship as multidimensional approaches to developing Africa's youth and by extension, its growth.

He said before the discussion, Ahmed will join nine other finalists for the OECD DAC Awards Ceremony, also in Paris, where the state's highly acclaimed Community Health Insurance Scheme has been shortlisted for an award.

The forum will also feature a discussion of PPP ventures in healthcare delivery and the launch of the OECD DAC Publication: Development Cooperation Report 2014.

Other panel members renowned African entrepreneur, Mo Ibrahim, Moncef Cheikh-Rouhou, Member of the Tunisian Parliament, Achille Mbembe of Witwatersrand University, South Africa, Magette Wade, founder and CEO of Tiossan, Senegal and Lionel Zinsou Chairman of PAI Partners, France.