TheCable

Obiageli Ezekwesili, former minister of education, has won the Von Weizsäcker fellowship at the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin, Germany.

The former minister will be at the academy from September 2019 to February 2020 where she will be working on an academic project, investigating the “nexus between the quality of politics and the economic progress or decline of nations”.

According to Ezekwesili, she settled for the fellowship because it aligns with her interest in understanding the politics and economy of Germany, and its relevance and adaptability to countries in Africa, especially Nigeria.

“The Robert Bosch Academy is an institution of the Robert Bosch Stiftung and offers decision-makers, opinion leaders, and experts the space for confidential exchanges and solution-oriented cooperation on global affairs. The Richard von Weizsäcker Fellowship was established in honor of the former President of Germany. The fellowship  offers a residency of several months in Berlin to outstanding personalities from around the world,” the academy wrote.

“During her fellowship, Obiageli Ezekwesili, a technocrat who recently ventured into politics and ran for President of Nigeria in the 2019 election, will investigate the nexus between politics and the unsatisfying results of economic management and nation-building process of Nigeria and more broadly, Africa.

“Ezekwesili is convinced that setting Africa’s politics and political landscape right is fundamental to instituting a strong pattern of good governance that will help convert her country and continent’s huge endowment of natural and human resources into lasting assets for equitable economic growth and development.”

The academy said Ezekwesili considers her mission of fixing Nigeria’s and Africa’s politics a creditable pathway for attaining good governance, inclusive and shared economic prosperity, harmony and political stability.