Nigeria Elections: its meaning for the country, its people and the world
Location:
SALT, Paul Webley Wing (Senate House), 1st Floor
SOAS
London WC1H 0XG
Admission:
NIGERIA POST-ELECTIONS PANEL DISCUSSION
We invite you to join our expert panellists in discussing what this election means for Nigeria, its people and the world.
The Nigerian elections on 25 February were some of the most consequential since the return to democracy in 1999. Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the APC has been declared winner but, as is the case for most elections in Nigeria, this remains contested. Dissatisfaction with the often chaotic process, accusations of manipulation, and the scale of support for the non-APC non-PDP candidate, Peter Obi, point to significant political challenges for whoever becomes President. They and the country will have to confront big questions: how federal power should be regulated and distributed, how can security for citizens be assured, how should resources be distributed and what should be the relationship between citizen and state.
The Royal Africa Society and the Centre of African Studies at the University of Edinburgh invite you to join our panellists in discussing what this election means for Nigeria, its people and the world.
The session will be followed by networking and drinks.
MODERATOR
Prof. Funmi Olonisakin – Vice President (International, Engagement & Service), Kings College
PANELLISTS
- Olusegun (Segun) Aganga CON – Chartered Accountant and former Nigeria’s Minister of Finance
- Folahanmi (Fola) Aina – Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, London
- Chidi Odinkalu – Professor of Practice in International Human Rights Law, Fletcher School
- Dr Portia Roelofs – Lecturer in Politics, King’s College
This will be a hybrid event and registration is mandatory.
If you are joining online, please use this click on the link and the details below:
Webinar ID: 823 3425 8971
Passcode: NG2023
BIOGRAPHIES
Prof. Funmi Olonisakin – Vice President (International, Engagement & Service), Kings College
She is also Professor of Security, Leadership and Development at the African Leadership Centre (which she founded) in the School of Global Affairs at King’s. Her research has focused on deepening understanding of why civil wars relapse, and the drivers of youth vulnerability and exclusion in the developing world. More recently, she has explored the interface between leadership, peace, and security. Her research projects include most recently “future peace, society and the state in Africa”, supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. She completed her PhD at King’s, and has previously worked for the United Nations and University of Pretoria.
Olusegun (Segun) Aganga CON – is a Chartered Accountant with a professional career extending over four decades, in financial services, investment banking and in the public sector. He is an Adviser to a number of companies and governments in the UK, US and Nigeria and founded the Nigerian Leadership Initiative (NLI). He has held senior management and leadership positions at Goldman Sachs and Ernst & Young in London. Segun served as Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and Chairman of the Economic Management Team; and then as its Minister of Industry, Trade & Investments. He was awarded the Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He was Chairman of the World Bank and IMF in 2010 and in 2011, he chaired the 8th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva.
Folahanmi (Fola) Aina – Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, Fola is a young professional and international security and development policy expert. He has completed his PhD at King’s College, with reference to Security and Development at the African Leadership Centre. His research interests include leadership in national security policy decision making, grand strategy, and peace and security in the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin regions. Fola has worked as an Independent Consultant for reputable think tanks such as the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), London, and for the Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF).
Chidi Odinkalu – Professor of Practice in International Human Rights Law at the Fletcher School. He previously chaired Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission and served on the panel of eminent persons that negotiated the return of The Gambia to the Commonwealth in 2017. Odinkalu has acted as counsel in international human rights litigation before Africa’s regional human rights courts and tribunals and was involved in the creation of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights. He is associated with several advocacy initiatives for the protection of human rights, including the International Refugee Rights Initiative.
Dr Portia Roelofs – is Lecturer in Politics at King’s College London. She was previously a Junior Research Fellow in Politics and Political Thought at St Anne’s College Oxford and an LSE Fellow in International Development. She has spent time as a visiting scholar at the universities of Ibadan and Maiduguri, and the Institute Français de Recherche on Afrique – Ibadan. She has published in African Affairs, the Journal of Modern African Studies, Governance, Oxford Development Studies and Review of African Political Economy. She has conducted fieldwork in Nigeria’s southwest (Lagos and Ibadan) and northeast (Borno and Adamawa). Her work explores themes of political ideas, visions of good governance, public sector reform and ‘localisation’ of donor initiatives in Nigeria. Her book “Good Governance in Nigeria: Rethinking Accountability and Transparency in the Twenty-First Century” will be published in April 2023 with Cambridge University Press.
Photo Credit: Commonwealth Secretariat