The Fight for the Soul of Nigeria

“Bad governance is clearly known as an obstacle to growth and development,” stated Obiageli Ezekwesili in an interview with Deutsche Welle television. Ezekwesili, a former Nigerian Minister of Education, uses her fellowship at the Robert Bosch Academy to work on an initiative that ends bad governance in her country: “If you want to remedy a situation in which basic norms and values of a society are distorted, you’ve got to fight.”

#BringBackOurGirls is another cause she is fighting for. The movement that she co-founded aims at rescuing the abducted Nigerian schoolgirls from the hands of Boko Haram. “The girls are never to be forgotten”, she said adding that the movement will keep on reminding the government about them.

Asked about the stride of the African country in tackling corruption, Oby Ezekwesili believes that in many African countries “the demand side for good governance and transparency is driven by an active citizenry”. While public discussion and scrutiny of the government have increased due to the ICT revolution, a lot needs to be done to build up institutions and systems that prevent the occurrence of corruption, she states.