Obiageli Ezekwesili on Nigeria's Governance Challenges
Channel: United States Institute of Peace
Date: 28/05/2015

As Nigeria prepares to swear in President-elect Muhammadu Buhari this week, former Cabinet Minister Obiageli Ezekwesili says the new leader will need to “stop being a candidate…and reconcile the entire country.” Nigerian citizens will no longer idly wait for their government to take action, but will demand more accountability, she said in this videotaped interview with USIP Program Officer Oge Onubogu.

In this excerpt from that interview, Ezekewesili discusses Nigeria's governance challenges and how its citizens are organizing together to push for reform. 

Their discussion also covered the #BringBackOurGirls campaign that Ezekesili co-founded, the re-integration of women rescued after being abducted, how the United States can strengthen Nigeria's economy, and more.

Ezekwesili served as minister of solid minerals and then as minister of education in the administration of then-President Olusegun Obasanjo, and later as vice president for the World Bank’s Africa division. She was a founding director of Transparency International, and recently was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World. 

Watch the entire interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTBHGsSre4g

For more information on Ezekwesili, visit: http://www.usip.org/olivebranch/2015/05/28/nigeria-cusp-of-buhari-inauguration-finds-voice-activist-says

Photo credits: Medina Dauda-VOA; UN Women/Ryan Brown; UN Women Nigeria Country Office