Sierra Leonean Researcher to deliver UNILAG’s distinguished Public Lecture
By Dennis Kabatto – When Washington, DC based, Sierra Leonean researcher, Professor Abdul Karim Bangura delivers the University of Lagos (UNILAG) Distinguished Public Lecture Thursday at 10 am in the Main Auditorium, he will strive to establish a correlation between the democracy project and the human condition across the African continent.
The Lecture entitled “The Democratic Project and the Human Condition across the African Continent” will be chaired by Professor Adele Jinadu of the Department of Political Science, UNILAG.
Excerpts from the lecture indicate Professor Bangura will focus on four areas: research methodology defining major concepts presented; operational and theoretical definitions of data collection; results from the statistical analysis and the examination of the need for a constitutional democratic framework for an United African States, what type of democratic state will best serve the African continent where strength in diversity and unity in collective action is promoted and how to make it a reality.
Abdul Karim Bangura, PhD is Professor of Research Methodology and Political Science at Howard University
“It is my hope that our African people will get both the “quantitative and qualitative realities of the nexus between the democracy project and human condition across the Motherland… forcing them to come to the realization that, we have no choice but to urgently form a Union of African States in order to protect our people and future generations, lest Africans remain at the bottom of the proverbial food chain,” he said describing what he hopes to achieve from the upcoming lecture.
He also noted the continued reliance on foreign aid from international financial institutions and the implementation of currency devaluation, removal of subsidies for public services, reduction of state intervention in agricultural pricing and marketing will continue to “negatively impact the democratization and the human condition all across Africa, and specifically Sierra Leone.”
“No country or region has ever developed under such cannibalistic shackles. These Western machinations are nothing more than a gimmick to keep developing countries in perpetual debt. If Africans pool their natural resources and talents, they do not need anything from the West, since they can get needed technologies elsewhere while they develop their own,” he said.
The Distinguished Public Lecture is a presentation by UNILAG’s Sociology Department in association with the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilization (CBAAC) which was established in 1979 following the second World Black and African Arts and Culture (FESTAC”77).
CBAAC hold public lectures, workshops, exhibitions and other activities to promote the appreciation of the overall image of Black and African cultures worldwide.
Thursday’s Distinguished Lecture will be hosted by Professor Omololu Soyombo – Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences while the Special Guest of Honor is High Chief Edem Duke – Nigeria’s Minister for Tourism, Culture and National Orientation.
Abdul Karim Bangura is professor of Research Methodology and Political Science at Howard University. He is also researcher-in-residence of Abrahamic Connections and Islamic Peace Studies at the Center for Global Peace in the School of International Service at American University.
He holds a PhD in Political Science, a PhD in Development Economics, a PhD in Linguistics, a PhD in Computer Science, and a PhD in Mathematics. He is the author of 70 books and more than 600 scholarly articles. One of his recent books titled African Mathematics: From Bones to Computers (2012) is the winner of the very prestigious Cecil B. Curry Book Award for 2012.
Bangura is fluent in about a dozen African and six European languages, and studying to increase his proficiency in Arabic, Hebrew, and Hieroglyphics. He is the recipient of many teaching and other scholarly and community service awards. He is also a member of many scholarly organizations and has served as President of the Association of Third World Studies.
