Focus on Nigeria: Opportunities and Challenges Ahead

Following the transition from military to civilian rule in 1999, Nigeria’s elections have been plagued by claims of election rigging and voter intimidation. February’s presidential election was held with 90% of Nigerians going to the ballot box saying that the country was headed in the wrong direction. With Nigeria’s entrepreneurial youth lining up behind an opposition candidate and the highest number of people eligible to vote, expectations were high that there would be a changing of the guard. The narrow victory of Bola Tinubu dashed hopes for change. Claims of vote rigging and some violence followed the election, the outcome of which is being contested by Tinubu’s opponents. What’s next for Tinubu and Nigeria – the Giant of Africa?  

Join us on April 27, at 12 PM virtually for a discussion with Idayat Hassan, the Director of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) and a leading expert on Nigeria's political landscape. With a deep knowledge of the West African region, she will highlight what’s next for Nigeria’s democracy and what key issues and challenges lay ahead for President-elect Tinubu in shoring up his support and credibility following the hotly contested race.

About the Speaker

Idayat Hassan is the Director of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), an Abuja-based policy advocacy and research organization focusing on deepening democracy and development in West Africa. Idayat is a lawyer and has held fellowships in universities across Europe and the United States. Her interests span democracy, peace and security, transitional justice, and information and communications technology for development in West Africa. As the director of CDD, she oversaw its rise from being unranked in 2013 to ranked 11th out of 94 think tanks in sub-Saharan Africa in 2020, according to the University of Pennsylvania’s Global Go To Think Tank Index. Idayat has strengthened CDD's position as a civic tech leader with a portfolio of projects—including analyses of the nexus between social media platforms, election processes, and electoral outcomes, using an app to identify electoral fraud and analyzing the use of personal data in political campaigning in Nigeria. Idayat has consistently provided thought leadership at different phases of Boko Haram's development. She was involved with Operation Safe Corridor from its inception, providing foundational ideas and operational advice. She provided conceptual clarity on the Boko Haram phenomenon during its heyday, presenting analyses of the group's motives and methods at conferences in Nigeria and internationally. Idayat frequently appears in international and local media as an expert on the region and is regularly quoted in the BBC, China Central Television, Radio France Internationale, Voice of America, Bloomberg, Washington Post, Financial Times, Economist, Guardian, and Deutsche Welle.

About the Moderator

Aanu Adeoye is the west Africa correspondent for the Financial Times based in Lagos. He covers politics, business, technology and economics in the Ecowas member states and central African countries, with a particular focus on Nigeria.

He was previously the Mo Ibrahim Foundation Academy Fellow with the Russia-Eurasia Programme at Chatham House, where he researched Russia-Africa relations. He is an Associate Fellow of the Queen Elizabeth II Leadership Academy at Chatham House.

Previously, he was in Johannesburg as news editor of The Continent, the digital pan-African newsweekly designed to be read and shared on messaging apps.

Aanu has an MA in Journalism and Media Studies (Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Scholar) from the University of the Witwatersrand and a Bsc. in Consumer Sciences from Obafemi Awolowo University.

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