By Wole Balogun
S.A Media to VC
The faculty of Social Sciences, Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), will hold a two-day conference on development plans and strategies geared towards enabling Nigeria to meet up with expectations on achieving the recently lunched National Development Plan (NDP) 2021-2025 and other national and global goals on developments.
Themed: “Optimizing and Achieving Nigeria’s Socio-Economic Development Plan: Prospects, OppurtunitiesOpportunities and Challenges, the conference is sheduled to hold from April 26th to 27th, 2023.
Dr Sunday A. Adedini and, Dr Samuel Oyewole, the Chair and Secretary of the Conference Organizing Committee, respectively said over 80 abstracts have already been accepted to be presented during the conference. They added that it promises to be illuminating, impactful, enriching and insightful.
A statement made available to the University media team on the aim of the conference, reads in part:
“Federal Government of Nigeria recently launched the National Development Plan (NDP) 2021-2025, designed as a medium-term Development Plan to build on the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan 2017-2020. Nigeria has a lot of opportunities and prospects to achieve the national development agenda as outlined in the NDP 2021-2025. The country is the most populous black nation on Earth with an estimated 206 million population. Nigeria has the largest economy in Africa with nominal GDP estimated at 460 billion USD.
“The country has a vibrant young population, with almost two-thirds of its population aged 10-24. Young Nigerian start-ups are making headway in cutting-edge sectors such as information, communication and technology. The country is home to the second- largest film industry on the globe. Nigeria is the fashion, technological and creative hub in Africa.
However, Nigeria’s socio-economic potential is constrained by many structural challenges, including inadequate infrastructure, obstacles to investment, barriers to trade, lack of confidence in currency valuation, high rate of youth unemployment, and limited foreign exchange capacity. Other challenges facing the country are corruption, insecurity, terrorism, violence during elections, weak democracy, unsustainable urbanization, high rate of girl child marriage, a large number of out-of-school children, low contraceptive prevalence rate, poor reproductive health outcomes such as unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortion, adolescent childbearing, high population growth rate (with the rate of economic growth falling below the population growth rate), high rate of poverty, inequality and non-inclusive growth, etc.
“The Conference will interrogate and produce policy-relevant evidence on how Nigeria can address its challenges, and optimize its potentials towards achieving the national development goals as enshrined in the National Development Plans 2021-2025 and the international development agenda such as the Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union Agenda 2063.
The Conference is proposed as in-person and will be hosted at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, Nigeria from April 26th to 27th, 2023 .
According to the statement, the sub-themes of the conference included, Sustainable macroeconomic policies and economic growth in Africa; Emerging issues in resource governance and sustainable development in Nigeria; Socioeconomic effects of COVID-19 pandemic on national development; COVID-19 transmission, prevention and its consequences in Nigeria; Armed conflict, food security and gender issues in Nigeria; Leadership, governance and development trajectory in Nigeria; Nigeria’s Foreign Policy and socio-economic development in a Globalized World; Women empowerment, disempowerment, gender inequality and socioeconomic development; Climate change and socioeconomic development in Africa; Communication and socioeconomic development; Social media and socioeconomic development; Crime and insecurities: global pressure and local measures; Criminal justice system: custodians, policies and reforms; Migration: voluntary and forced migration dynamics in Africa; Fertility, reproductive health, mortality and socioeconomic development in Africa; Insecurity and challenges of educational system in Nigeria;
The judicialisation of politics, rule of law and electoral justice in Nigeria; Politics, national security, and development in Nigeria; Attitude as ink to national socioeconomic development; Getting rich quick syndrome: beliefs, perceptions, attitude and practice across age groups; Entrepreneurship intention, attitude and practice; Psychoeducation, psychotherapy and socioeconomic development in Nigeria; Prospects and challenges of youths and gender relations in the socioeconomic development of Nigeria; and Putting the “last” “first”: reinventing and exploiting the potentials of the neglected rural areas for national development.
Lead Speakers included Prof Olabisi Aina, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife; and Dr Robert Asogwa, Central Bank of Nigeria, Abuja.
Pre-conference activities include ‘DHS Data Analysis Workshop’ organized by the Department of Demography and Social Statistics, Federal University Oye-Ekiti, which is scheduled for April 24th-25th, 2023; and the Academic Forum which holds on 26/04/2023 at 10:00 am
Online registration for the conference can be done using this link: https://forms.gle/ZZYyGG2j2cSba6Cr8,
while onsite registration will be done at the conference venue on 26/04/2023 at 09:00 to 10:00.
The -host of the conference is Prof. J Omotosho, the Dean of the faculty of Social Sciences , while the Chief host of the conference is the Vice-Chancellor, FUOYE, Professor Abayomi Sunday Fasina who will declare the conference open on 26th April, 2023.
More information about the programme can be obtained from the chairman, Organizing Committee, Dr. Sunday Adedini via Sunday.Adedini@fuoye.edu.ng
