Upcoming Book Launch: The Global Economic Crisis and Nigeria

Date: Thursday 15th April, 2010

Venue: Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, Nigeria

The African Institute for Applied Economics (AIAE) in collaboration with the Policy Analysis and Research Project (PARP) of the National Assembly organized the National Policy Symposium - Global Financial and Economic Crisis: Taking the Right Lessons and Avoiding the Wrong Lessons, on 18th June 2009, at Transcorp Hilton, Abuja. The National Symposium was an effort to give conceptual form and evidence-based perspective to the national public discourse on the global economic crisis and its implications for Nigeria’s economic planning and management. The national policy dialogue is at the heart of AIAE strategy for promoting evidence-based policies in Nigeria and Africa.

The symposium was attended by more than 250 persons including top officials of Federal and State governments, top leaders, experts and managers from the private sector, as well as professionals from civil society.

The Symposium provided an independent stakeholders’ platform for informed and organized discussion of the implications, lessons and challenges of the global economic recession for Nigeria. It brought together different stakeholders on the Nigerian economy for the purpose of sharing views and reaching understanding of the lessons from the global economic crisis. The Symposium identified what the right lessons are, what the wrong lessons are and the options for applying the right lessons in policy and institutional reforms across the federal, state and local governments. Given the auspicious national significance of the topic, it became necessary to transform the Symposium papers into a Book in order to achieve wider audience in government, private sector and civil society. The ideas and lessons canvassed at the Symposium needed to be more widely disseminated in an enduring manner. This is particularly necessary since the participants at the symposium represent only a handful of policy officials, technocrats and practitioners from the public and private sectors of the economy.

The book will enlighten government and private sector managers, civil society actors and development practitioners. It will sensitise stakeholders towards advocating for analysis-based responses to the global economic crisis. As one of the few organised analyses on the global economic crisis and Nigeria, this book will enhance the quality of public discourse on the appropriate policy responses. For policy advocacy purposes, this book serves as an evidence tool. Policymakers and technocrats will find the book as a useful and handy reference material. Also, the book will serve as an important learning and reference material for professionals, scholars, teachers and students.