Richard von Weizsäcker Fellow Obiageli Ezekwesili, economic policy expert and former Nigerian Minister for Education, will on Monday present the findings of her research on politics in Nigeria and other African countries.

She will be joined by others drawn from the academia, civil society organisations, policymakers to discuss structural change and how poor politics affect good governance.

The two-day conference scheduled for Federal Palace Hotel, Lagos, is being put together by The Robert Bosch Academy tagged, #FixPolitics Initiative with Obiageli Ezekwesili, who is its current Richard von Weizsäcker Fellow.

Against this background, the #FixPolitics Initiative will propose innovative ways of empowering and centering the citizens in their countries’ politics before, during and after the electoral cycle.

At the conference Ezekwesili, a co-founder of the #BringBackOurGirls movement as well as the #RedCardMovement in Nigeria, who focuses her research fellowship on #FixPolitics will present her interim report to the conference. Her research work is to develop a greater understanding of the nexus between the quality of politics and the economic progress or decline of nations, with particular focus on Africa.

During her Fellowship at the Robert Bosch Academy, she has been probing the effect that the poor quality of politics in a country has on governance, sound economic policies, growth and development in Africa and on Nigeria in particular.

Ezekwesili will use the findings of her fellowship programme and the collaboration of the Work Study Group component to design a structural change agenda for the politics and polity of Nigeria and the rest of Africa.

The Conference will combine a variety of meeting formats. Sessions are designed to allow participants discuss ideas for emerging; an empowered and engaged electorate, citizens-led, value-based political class and agree strategies for compelling political and electoral reforms. The conference facilitates opportunity for a wider audience to sharpen the existing groundworks of the Work Study Groups component of the research and help concretize a post-meeting strategic plan that will mobilise citizens’ leadership to course correct the struggling democracy of Nigeria and ultimately, Africa.Notable personalities expected at the conference are Jannik Rust, Senior Project Manager, Richard von Weizsäcker Fellows, Prof Johann Lambsdorff, Professor of Economic Theory at the University of Passau, Germany, Michael Famoriti, Head of Stears Data Advisory & Consulting Practice and Prof Annette Zimmer, Professor of Social Policy and Comparative Politics at the University of Münster, Professor Peter Lewis Warren Weinstein Chair of African Studies, School of Advanced and International Studies, John Hopkins University Washington DC, USA and Dr. Aloy Chife – Managing Partner/CEO SAANA CAPITAL, LLC.

Also expected are Mr. Frank Nweke II, Co-Founder, NzukoLabs; Mrs Aisha Yesufu, Founder, Citizens Hub; Mr. Iyin Aboyeji, Co-Founder, Future Africa; Dr. Charles Omole, Managing Partner, Prodel Global Services Ltd.; Mrs. Alero-Otobo, Founder, Incubator Africa; Mr. Adewale Ajadi, Country Director, Synergos; Dr. Amina Salihu, Senior Program Officer, MacArthur Foundation Abuja Nigeria; and Mrs. Mary Ikoku, Founder, Emerge Women Development Initiative.

Others are Mr. Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, Executive Director of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), as well as Mr. Samson Itodo, Executive Director, YIAGA Africa and others.

The Robert Bosch Academy founded in 2014 is an institution of the Robert Bosch Stiftung. The Academy offers international decision-makers, opinion leaders, and experts the space for confidential exchanges and solution-oriented cooperation on global affairs.

Through its programmes, the Robert Bosch Academy provides its fellows with the opportunity to spend a residency in Berlin. In addition, it hosts a wide-range of events and with its diverse perspectives contributes to a vivid debate on political and social issues.