Past Africanist conferences & events
Please send past conference reports to Simon Heap at editor(AT)asauk.net
‘Nigeria: the Biggest and the Best? 50 years of Independence, Coventry University, 10 November 2010. The African Studies Centre in partnership with the think tank Chatham House, hosted in November the UK’s premier conference on Nigeria in 2010. It marked the 50 years of Nigeria’s independence by reflecting on the country’s past, analysing its present and assessing its future. The 120 delegates represented the many stakeholders, from Nigeria and across the world, concerned with Africa’s most populous country – business, diplomats, NGOs, academics and a good number of Nigerian students from our own University and elsewhere. In addition, the acting High Commissioner of Nigeria was present for the day.
The keynote speaker was Professor Jean Herskovits from State University New York, who gave a very sobering assessment of some of the political challenges facing the country today. Other speakers came from the US Department of State, the University of Oxford, UK businesses with interests in Nigeria (AfricaRecruit, Shell, Orion Pax) and NGOs with a Nigerian agenda (The National Think Tank and Platform). Together they provided a searching examination of the key issues and provoked lively debate.
Those that missed the conference can watch videos of the main presentations on the African Studies website: www.coventry.ac.uk/africanstudies
