Nigeria’s 2023 election was widely considered to be a watershed moment. Despite its abundant potential, repeated failures to address a complex series of security and economic challenges have left public confidence in the country’s political leaders waning. One year on from his election, what signs are there that President Tinubu is making progress in tackling Islamist extremism and criminality as well as the poverty and unemployment that help fuel them?

Panellists

• Dr Alastair Masser - Visiting Fellow, Department of War Studies

Dr Masser is a communications consultant, academic, and author specialising in politics and international relations. He spent the first decade of his career in politics including serving for four years as a UK Government Special Adviser. He holds a PhD from the Department of War Studies, examining UK-Nigerian security cooperation against Boko Haram during the period of Britain’s Coalition government between 2010 and 2015.

• Mr Paul Arkwright CMG – Former UK High Commissioner to Nigeria

Paul Arkwright is the Founder of Arkwright Advisory Ltd and a former British diplomat. Between 2015 and 2018 he served as UK High Commissioner to Nigeria. He joined the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 1986 and served in a variety of roles in London and abroad including as Director of Multilateral Policy, Ambassador to the Netherlands, and Head of the Counter-Proliferation Department.

• Dr Richard Ikiebe – Co-founder, International Organization for Peace Building and Social Justice

Dr Ikiebe is co-founder of the International Organization for Peace Building and Social Justice based in Lagos. He is a member of faculty, School of Media and Communication, SMC, of the Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos, Nigeria, where he is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Centre for Leadership in Journalism (CLeJ).