News

On the 25^th of February and the 11^th of March 2023, Nigerians are called to the polls for the sixth time since the return to a multi-party system in the country twenty-three years ago. These elections will take place in a tense context and expectations are running high regarding the growing insecurity and the economic crisis Nigeria is facing. To understand better what is at stakes, IFRA-Nigeria organised a roundtable on the 8^th of December 2022 gathering researchers working on various issues related to the 2023 elections at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan.

The French Institute for Research in Africa (IFRA), using The Solidarity Fund for Innovative Projects (FSPI) awarded by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is funding a project in Calabar entitled “Protecting Political activists archives to write another history of Nigeria”. This project, which is a component of the 'Nigerian Heritage Digitisation Programme', aims at digitising important and imperilled archival holdings of Nigeria’s radical and prodemocracy activists to increase accessibility to these materials as well as to preserve them for posterity.

Please find here the call for applications for the Sciences Po Visiting Faculty Global Programme.

Sciences Po is calling for outstanding applications for visiting faculty from around the world. In the 2023-2024 academic year, Sciences Po will open two visiting faculty positions in the social sciences or humanities, for up to a semester-long each (6-weeks minimum).

Can you explain to us what the INFRAPATRI project is, what brings you to Ibadan and what is your role in this project?

INFRAPATRI is a program funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR), from March 2021 to March 2025. It is a program that I supervise within my research unit, PRODIG, based at the Campus Condorcet in Aubervilliers, France. The objectives of this program are to compare the relationships, knowledge, and attachments of city-dwellers and municipal authorities to plants in four cities in sub-Saharan Africa: Yaoundé in Cameroon, Ibadan in Nigeria, Porto-Novo in Benin Republic, and Dakar in Senegal. One hypothesis that we want to test in these four cities pertaining to these relationships to plants is that, in addition to the heritage policies that have been implemented in African cities and that are often focused on the built environment and, moreover, on colonial buildings, there may also be memorial attachments to plants by the inhabitants of these cities.

The unfolding electoral moment in Nigeria is a period of critical importance for the country and of great interest to the French Institute for Research in Africa (IFRA), based at the Institute of African Studies (University of Ibadan). IFRA intends to play a role in observing and analysing the social impacts of Nigerian policies, polities, and politics in a short- and long-term perspective. In this electoral setting, IFRA is launching an observatory overseeing the 2023 elections in Nigeria. The aim is to produce socio-anthropological data and analysis on the election process. For this, IFRA is funding several young Nigerian researchers to conduct fieldwork-based research upon different topics (political violence, fraud, public space dynamics, particular groups voting intentions, ethnic based voting patterns…).

The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Abuja, Nigeria announces a small grants competition for writers, researchers, and activists working on or in Nigeria. The grant forms a part of a wider programme on the Digitisation of Nigerian Heritage funded by the French Institute for Research in Africa, (IFRA-Nigeria), and the Embassy of France in Nigeria.

The component of the project undertaken by CDD aims to digitally preserve and disseminate the inspiring documentary heritage of earlier generations of Nigeria’s radical and pro-democracy activists. These efforts are anchored on the premise that unearthing the activities and debates that preoccupied earlier generations of Nigeria’s radical thinkers and activists can help enrich contemporary activism, public discourses, and academic scholarship in and on Nigeria.

On 25th February and 11th March 2023, Nigerians are called to the polls for the sixth time since the return to multipartism in 1999. These elections will take place in a tense context and expectations are running high regarding the growing insecurity and the economic crisis Nigeria is facing. To understand better what is at stakes, IFRA-Nigeria is organising a roundtable on 8 December 2022 gathering researchers working on various issues related to the 2023 elections. 

Wednesday 7th December, 6PM (WAT)

Nigeria's Fourth Republic, 1999-2021. A Militarised Democracy by Dr Michael Nwankpa published by Routledge in 2022.

This book reflects on Nigeria’s Fourth Republic, the country’s longest democratic period since it gained independence. It argues that although constitutional or political democracy has lasted for over two decades, Nigeria’s democracy remains largely militarized. This book makes a compelling argument for considering the distinct character of the Nigerian nation state’s path to militarization over the last 20 years of experimentation with democracy. Its fresh insights into the fourth republic’s path to militarization will be of interest to researchers of African politics, security and development.

Discussion: Dr Oliver Coates (University of Cambridge)

Online Book Launch on Zoom. RSVP : https://forms.gle/5E1tgJApLiZN5yTC9

Journée d'étude : Quelle(s) catégorisation(s) pour les patrimonialisations “minoritaires” ? Enjeux épistémologiques (Lundi 28 novembre 2022)

Cette première journée d’étude se situe dans le cadre plus large d’une recherche sur les « Patrimonialisations "minoritaires" : enjeux épistémologiques, terrains et questions émergentes » (RESEAU LIEU, AMUP-ENSAS, SAGE-Université de Strasbourg, IFRA-Nigeria) (2022-2024).