For a country such as Nigeria where “Nigeriens are not aliens in Nigeria” was the title of the memorable pan-regional essay by the late Dr Mahmud Modibbo Tukur, Historian and former ASUU President decades back, the democratic stalemate in the Republic of Niger is bound to be an inexhaustible topic of public intellection.
That is what the Centre for Peace Studies at Usmanu Dan Fodio is promising the public sphere on August 28th, 2023 when its symposium on the subject comes alive.
The title of the star studded symposium is ‘Niger Crisis and the Future of African Integration’ and it is going to be a zoom affair to which the joining details sent along with the invite is https://wacren.zoom.us/j/66080857242 Meeting ID: 660 8085 7242.
The 10: 00 am meeting is billed to feature Historians from four centres of intellectual reflection viz the Usmanu Dan Fodio University itself, (from where Prof Muktar Umar Bunza and Comrade Abubakar Sokoto Mohammed are coming in); the University of Texas @ Austin from where Prof Toyin Falola will be joining); Abia State University from where Prof Aja Ajakpuru-Aja will be cutting in and, lastly, the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) from where Dr. Musa Umar will be cutting in as well. There is thus a sense in which this could as well be the mother of all symposia, given the multi-disciplinarity of the discussants (History, Political Science, Political Sociology); the cultural pluralism too of the discussants and the sensitive nature of the institutional location of UDU – literarily a shout from Niger Republic
Given the foregone, the public will be curious to read a rapid-result transcription and publication as well as quick circulation of the proceedings of the symposium. As such, it is over to host and Chief host, Prof M. T Usman and Prof Lawal Suleiman Bilbis, the Director of the Centre for Peace Studies and the Vice-Chancellor of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, respectively.
