It is open to (mis) interpretation as a hegemonic game through knowledge but it is also open to (mis) interpretation as the day Nigeria is deploying a global intellectual fleet, with some of its best and the brightest in political and social analysis cracking different dimensions of her 20 years of uninterrupted democracy. That is at the one -day, on-going conference appraising 20 years of democracy in Nigeria. It is supported by the Rhodes Chair in Race Relations, African Studies Centre, University of Oxford, occupied by Prof Wale Adebanwi.
Prof Adebanwi
Almost all the established names in the field, from Eghosa Osaghae to Rotimi Suberu, Aliyu Modibbo Umar, Adigun Agbaje, Idayat Hassan, Zainab Usman, Okey Ibeanu, Jibrin Ibrahim, Ebenezer Obadare, Kingsley Moghalu, Bashir Yusuf Ibrahim and Akin Osuntokun are participating in the daylong event. Of course, there are the two politicians, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, governor of Ekiti State and Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, representing their own specie.
It is all intellectual engagement but intellectualism is not oblivious of space and time. Although the University of Oxford is an intellectual and cultural centre operating on a global scale, that does not erase the spatial significance of the university being the site of the engagement. That space will have its own implications for the jaw jawing. The space, time and diversity of intellectual trajectory of the speakers notwithstanding, this one day appraisal of Nigeria’s 20 years of attempt at democracy is almost certain to be one of the most wide-ranging and systematic exercise. The expertise is strong too.
For instance, Dr. Ebenezer Obadare of the University of Kansas in the USA who is speaking on “Resistance in the Age of Democracy: The Changing Parameters of Civil Society in Nigeria” wrote a PhD thesis on the Nigerian civil society at the London School of Economics many years back. Idayat Hassan who is taking a different dimension of the same topic will be doing so from the advantage of practical engagement over time. That is also the case with Professors Okey Ibeanu and Jibrin Ibrahim on elections. Professor Nic Cheeseman from the University of Birmingham in the UK who is speaking on “Political Communication in Nigeria: From Radio to WhatsApp” is at the head of an on-going research on the topic in Nigeria.
Similarly, Prof Peter Lewis is not a new name in the political economy of oil in Nigeria. Students in that field remember his thesis of “From Prebendalism to Predation: The Political Economy of Decline in Nigeria” amongst such other powerfully descriptive framing of the crisis in the country. Ricardo Soares de Oliviera from University of Oxford has published widely on international political economy of oil and especially in the Gulf of Guinea.
This is probably the moment when the phrase “we are all Nigerians” would not be much off the track as far as the appraisal is concerned. Each of the speakers has his or her own connection to Nigeria. The world, therefore, looks forward to the outcome of the conference with particular reference to the big idea that can move Nigeria towards a leap from crisis ridden, stalemated existence to the all-round giant it ought to be.
The programme below shows the themes each speaker or panel is addressing:
Welcome and Introduction of Keynote Speaker – Wale Adebanwi
9.10 – 9.50am KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Twenty Years of Semi-Democracy in Nigeria: Future Challenges for Democratic Development
Professor Larry Diamond, Stanford University, USA
9.50 – 10.30am
Question & Answer
10.30 – 11.00am: Coffee Break
PANELS
PANEL 1 11:00am – 12:30pm
The Nigerian State: Structure, Agency and Institutional Processes
Reconstructions, Resilience and Relevance: Political Elites and Ethnic Mobilization, 1999-2019
Eghosa Osaghae, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
Federalism, Constitutional Reform, and the Elusive Quest for “Political Restructuring” in the Fourth Nigerian Republic
Rotimi Suberu, Bennington University, Vermont, USA
The Nigerian Presidency and the Challenges of Governance in the Fourth Republic
Aliyu Modibbo Umar, African Studies Centre, University of Oxford, UK
A Republic of Dashed Hopes? Party Politics and 20 years of the Travails of Democracy in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic
Adigun Agbaje, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
Today’s Nigeria resembles Abacha’s Nigeria. Why does the international community treat it so differently?
Matthew T. Page, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington D.C., USA
Chair: Prof Daniel Bach, Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS)
Paris, France
12:30 – 1:30pm: Lunch Break
PANEL 2 1:30 – 2.40pm
The Political Economy of Oil
Politicians and Oil
Peter Lewis, Johns Hopkins University, USA
The Political Economy of Nigerian Oil Trading
Ricardo Soares de Oliviera, University of Oxford, UK
From Diversification to Decentralization: the Sub-National Roots of Transforming Nigeria’s Oil Economy
Zainab Usman, The World Bank, Washington D.C., USA
Nigeria: No Longer an Oil State Oliver Owen and Sarah Burns, University of Oxford, UK
Chair: Prof Adigun Agbaje, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
PANEL 3 2:50 – 4.30pm
Electoral Governance, Civil Society and (In)Security
Theorizing Electoral Democracy in Nigeria: Elections, Representation and Accountancy
Okechukwu Ibeanu, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Abuja,
Nigeria
The 2019 General Elections in Nigeria: An Assessment
Jubrin Ibrahim, Centre for Democracy and Development, Abuja, Nigeria
Resistance in the Age of Democracy: The Changing Parameters of Civil Society in Nigeria
Ebenezer Obadare, University of Kansas, USA
From Human Rights Movement to Civil Society: A Review of Twenty Years of Democracy in Nigeria
Idayat Hassan, Centre for Democracy and Development, Abuja, Nigeria
Political Communication in Nigeria: From Radio to WhatsApp
Nic Cheeseman, University of Birmingham, UK
The Political Economy of Insurgency and Counter-Insurgency in North-East Nigeria
Adam Higazi, Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Yola, Nigeria and University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Chair: Prof David Pratten, University of Oxford, UK
4:30 – 5:00pm: Break (Move to Blavatnik School of Government)
Venue: Lecture Theatre 2, Blavatnik School of Government,
120 Walton St, Oxford OX2 6GG
5.00 – 5.05pm
Introduction of Governor Kayode Fayemi
Wale Adebanwi, University of Oxford, UK
5.05 – 5.35pm
Special Guest Speech
Dr Kayode Fayemi, Governor of Ekiti State and Chairman, Nigeria
Governors Forum
5.35 – 5.40pm
Introduction of Governor Aminu Tambuwal
Wale Adebanwi, University of Oxford, UK
5.40 – 6.10pm
Special Guest Speech
Rt Hon Aminu Tambuwal, Governor of Sokoto State and Deputy Chairman,
Nigeria Governors Forum
6.10 – 7.50pm
Panel Discussion and Question & Answer
Dr Kingsley Moghalu, Lagos, Nigeria
Mallam Bashir Yusuf Ibrahim, Abuja, Nigeria
Mr Akin Osuntokun, African Studies Centre, University of Oxford, UK
Chair: Professor Eghosa Osaghae, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
