Africa Policy Journal

On April 3, 2015, as he came to Cambridge (Massachusetts, United States) to honor an invitation by the Institute of Politics of Harvard Kennedy School of Government to give the opening keynote address of the 6th annual African Development Conference at Harvard University, His Excellency Mr. Issoufou Mahamadou, President of the Republic of Niger, kindly […]

Overview Kenya can be one of Africa’s success stories. Its outlook is one of hope and positive prospects, with huge development opportunities combined with substantial challenges. It holds great potential including from its expanding and youthful population; dynamic private sector; a platform for change laid down by the new Constitution and recent peaceful elections; and […]

Six weeks after a controversial postponement, the Nigerian presidential and National Assembly elections are set for March 28th, with the governorship and State House of Assembly elections scheduled to take place on April 11th. In spite of the volatile security environment, government officials have indicated that Nigerian citizens will be able to vote this Saturday, […]

As the Nigerian elections come around, the broadcast is out again and every pundit on Africa especially the western ones are on, once more, about Nigeria disintegrating.  This alarm and concern for Nigeria by outsiders seems to me not so much about caring but about perpetuating the myth of Africa’s failure in governing itself. In my […]

The following interview was conducted by APJ’s Ngozika Amalu on the occasion of HE Ambassador Ali’s visit to Harvard University, sponsored by the Center for African Studies and co-hosted by APJ, the Africa Caucus, and the Harvard African Students Association. Ambassador Amina Salum Ali is the African Union Ambassador to the United States. As the […]

ABSTRACT The Ibrahim Prize, the largest annually awarded prize given in the world, is meant to incentivize African heads of state to become better democratic leaders. The Ibrahim Index of African Governance, IIAG, a composite measurement, is used in a ranking order of African heads of States. This paper affirms the hypothesis- no consistent correlation […]

With recent reports from the FAO that the Ebola outbreak could threaten West Africa’s food supply, it is easy to understand why Sub-Saharan Africa’s agricultural sector would be in urgent need of reform. If Ebola has proven to be such a threat to West African harvests, it is mainly due to the establishment of quarantine […]

One day a Harvard economics professor asked his graduate class: “Who has ever been in Sierra Leone?” Students raised their hands, most of them non-Africans and none of them from Sierra Leone. And he continued: “Who has ever seen a cow in Sierra Leone?” This time, no more hands were raised. Believe it or not, […]

Tony Elumelu, CON is a Nigerian Entrepreneur, with over twenty years experience in the Banking and Investment sector in Africa. In the course of his career, Elumelu says he has met hundreds of entrepreneurs who carry in them the hope of Africa’s future. “Many of them young people with incredible dreams and business ideas but […]

Developing countries need a democratization of development aid. Not the democratization of giving that Bill Clinton or Jeffery Sachs called for, but a democratization that is realized through a real and balanced collaboration between international aid disbursing organizations, local organizations and local communities that receive aid; a collaboration that moves receiving organizations, communities, and countries […]

APJ caught up with President John D. Mahama on the occasion of his speech at the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School.  President Mahama discussed the leading causes behind Ghana’s economic challenges which, at their height early this year, saw inflation rates rise above 15 percent and a depreciation of nearly 40 percent […]

  I am honored to dedicate the APJ’s first blog post to a visionary who gallantly opted to sit on the right side of world history at the cost of his life: President Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso. This African hero was killed, dismembered and buried in an unmarked grave on October 15, 1987 during […]