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African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development
African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development
It is a great honour for me to deliver the keynote address at this conference on Decolonisation and Anti-Racism in social work practice in Nigeria. The twin issues of decolonisation and anti-racism have been recognised over the years to be important approaches to promote development in Africa. There has been a lot of academic papers, research and debate on the issues. But it has not fundamentally changed approaches to development work. This is why the renewed interest by Christian Aid and the African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development (Centre LSD) is quite commendable. Today, we are gathered here to critically re-examine our history and envision a new path forward for the continent of Africa, a path rooted in justice, equity and reclamation of African identity.
PREAMBLE It is a great pleasure and honour for me to stand before you today to deliver the keynote address at the launch of ActionAid Nigeria’s new Country Strategy Paper titled Citizens Action Against Poverty and Injustice (2024-2034). This event is significant to me at a personal level. In 2004, twenty years ago, I was appointed the Country Director of ActionAid Nigeria. In 2004, the poverty rate in Nigeria was 54.7 percent representing about 74.8 million people. Today, the poverty rate is projected to be 40.7 percent representing 93.3 million people. So, in spite of all our best efforts, poverty is increasing. In this keynote address, we make an argument for social movement as the path to poverty eradication and social justice. But first, we give the background and conceptualise social movement organising, theory and practice.
INTRODUCTION : National balance is necessary for nation-building, sustainable development and good governance in any country. In Nigeria, a multi-cultural, multi-religious and diverse society, achieving a balanced approach to development involves strengthening infrastructure, enhancing institutional capacity and embracing diversity. These elements are critical building blocks for nation-building and fostering inclusive growth, stability and active governance. In this keynote address, we explore the roles of infrastructure, institutional capacity and diversity in promoting national balance and good governance in Nigeria. But first, we explore the concept of nation-building.
Presented at the National Conference on Education Equity, Nicon Luxury Hotels, Abuja, August 8, 2019. This paper is research in progress. It is an initial draft and the ideas in it will be fleshed out after the meeting.
COVID-19 is the name given to the disease associated with Coronavirus that started in Wuhan, China towards the end of 2019. Coronaviruses are viruses that circulate among animals but some of them are known to infect human beings.
From the response of governments across the world so far and guidelines from the World Health Organisation (WHO), we can delineate three ways to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic:
From the response of governments across the world so far and guidelines from the World Health Organisation (WHO), we can delineate three ways to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic:
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is the directing and co-ordinating authority on international health within the United Nations System.[i]
Nothing in recent history has brought the world to her knees like the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The threat posed by a disease outbreak of this proportion makes any threat from chemical, cyber or nuclear warfare fade in comparison.
