OBJECTIVES

Among others, the Conference shall attempt to achieve the following objectives:

1. Review Nigeria’s attempts at evolving a democratic culture and re-imagining the future.

2. Assess the state of human capital (education, science, culture, health) development and implications in Nigeria.

3. Explore Nigeria’s socio-economic policies and programmes within the contexts of social, economic, scientific and technological advancement of the country.

4. Examine the roles of geo-politics, especially the international money lenders and development partners, in Nigeria.

5. Evaluate the interrelationships among endogenous values, nation building, and sustainable transformation of Nigeria.

6. Propose alternative pathways to socio-economic progress within a just and equitable global community.

SUB – THEMES

The state of general crisis in Nigeria presently has reached the level of an existential threat. The attention of scholars is necessarily needed to interrogate the following areas as they relate to the Nigerian state, economy, and society with a view to proffering alternative pathways:

• Party politics and Development in Nigeria (An Open Forum): A critical review of the rolesof political parties in the development/underdevelopment of Nigeria.

• Capacity for development: The shrinking investment in education and the development of human resources has contributed immensely to undermining the capacity of the country to produce enough for the populace to ensure livelihood security.

• Distorted and dependent Model of Capitalism: Lack of scientific knowledge in the type of capitalist system of production being embarked upon by the ruling and the governing class has shrunken the productive capacity of the Nigerian economy to the extent that it cannot provide for the basic needs of the people.

• Leadership, Politics and (Mis)Governance: Kakistocracy in the country has not only eroded and undermined the foundation of national development led by the first generation of Nigerian leaders but also has led the present governing class to succumb to the pressure of international capitalist interests and other foreign business interests to determine the path of national economic development, form of politics, educational development, and socio-cultural policies. The rise of plutocracy (money-politics), kakistocracy, and kleptocratic ruling class under the gamut micro-nationalism, and fraudulent management of national economy.

• Citizenship, National Vision and Nation Building: Efforts of the first-generation leadership in the development of both regional and national economy and national democratic political culture has been abandoned and presently unknown to majority of the Nigerian people.

• National Security and Socio-Economic Development: The tragedy of military coup

disruptions and the redirection of the path of national security and socio-economic development.

• Class Conflicts, Egalitarianism and Social Justice: Lack of capacity of the ruling class to

apply justice, scientific knowledge in creating solutions to national socio-economic crisis, and heavy reliance on vulgar economics, and unscientific neo-liberal solutions.

• Patriotism, National Interest and the Future of Nigeria: Unpatriotic leadership and inability to defend national sovereignty and define Nigeria’s national interest. The search for patriotic leadership, egalitarian society, humane economy, and social justice appears no longer on the agenda of the ruling class.