What could be the outlook for democracy in Africa under condition of a global health emergency – Covid 19 – compounded by volatile populism, ethno-nationalism, ‘state capture’, narrowing or even total closure of the democratic space, corruption, widening rich-poor gap, generalised insecurity and associated complexity?
This is the question the Lagos based Centre for Constitutionalism and Demilitarisation, (CENCOD) is providing a platform for intellectual clarification Sunday, December 20th, 2020.
Prof Adefemi Isumonah, a former Head of the Department of Political Science at the University of Ibadan would be on hand as Guest Speaker at the webinar to be moderated by Prof Sylvester Odion-Akhaine, the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Centre and Political Scientist at Lagos State University, (LASU). Prof Odion-Akhaine is one of the few Nigerian political scientists who have tried to look at the pandemic from the point of view of political analysis that is now in its 37th edition of a weekly newspaper column.
Considering how large Africa’s share of what is ailing the world today is, it would be interesting to hear what the Guest Speaker and participants would have to say on the topic, particularly as it relates to ways out of the situation. This is more so that Nigeria where the resource persons are coming from may be regarded as the epicenter of the legacy of ailing democracies.
The attempt at intellectual fix to the crisis has not been as common as resort to threats, angry and rancorous engagements among contending interests across Africa. That is bound to make this an unusually inviting ‘Virtual Annual Democracy Lecture’ for many – journalists, academics, politicians, technocrats, civil society activists, members of the global health management family and sundry professionals, amongst others.
