Sixty-six years on - how can Nigeria escape the fragility trap and unlock its potential?

About this event

Join us for a fireside chat book launch that introduces the new book by Olu Fasan, In The National Interest: The Road to Nigeria's Political, Economic and Social Transformation . More than a century after its creation by Britain in 1914 and sixty-six years after independence in 1960, Nigeria remains a deeply fragile nation: ethnically polarised, politically unstable, economically vulnerable and socially fractured. In this chat, Dr Fasan examines the political, economic and social roots of Nigeria's predicament, drawing on extensive scholarly policy research and rigorous evidence-based analysis. He argues that Nigeria's difficulties a rooted in the country's "birth defects", troubled historical evolution and path-dependent institutional development, reflected in three fundamental failures: weak nationhood, limited state capacity insufficient commitment by leaders and citizens to act in the national interest. The book makes the case for a new political and constitutional settlement and offers thoughtful ideas for national renewal. Timed to coincide with Nigeria's sixty-sixth Independence Anniversary this event provides a timely platform for critical discussion on Nigeria's future and the prospects for political, economic and social transformation.