Nigeria — All Publications

An African champion on the global stage: Openness, innovation and entrepreneurship in Nollywood

Nigeria’s booming film industry, colloquially known as Nollywood, has become one of the most influential in the world, and one of Nigeria’s largest economic sectors. University of Ottawa Professor Dr Chidi Oguamanam, working as part of the Open African Innovation Research (Open AIR) network, examines Nollywood as an example of how innovation, openness and entrepreneurship have unfolded in this unique context. Relying on extensive data collection, including in-depth interviews with key players in the industry, Oguamanam traces Nollywood’s origins and demonstrates how its persistent openness—to local popular culture, to myriad modes of marketing, to both formal and informal skills development, to Nigeria’s multiethnic realities, and to various approaches to intellectual property—have all contributed to its success at local, national, continental and global levels.

Op-EdChidi OguamanamMarch 31, 2021Nigeria, Nollywood, Innovation, IP and Knowledge Governance

Africa's Unique Vulnerabilities Require a Different Pandemic Approach

Africa’s fate is precarious in the face of COVID-19. It is the last continent to be affected by COVID-19 following the arrival of the contagion in Egypt and Nigeria in February 2020. Ideally, the late arrival of COVID-19 in Africa could have bought the world’s poorest and politically susceptible continent an advantage. However, a combination of unpreparedness and the severity of COVID-19’s impact left Africa with no such advantage.

Op-EdChidi OguamanamOctober 6, 2020Africa, WHO, COVID-19, Senegal, China, United Nations, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Health Law and Medical Ethics, Education

Public Health, Africa, and COVID-19

As an African and a Canadian, I inhabit an observatory. I am a resident in two worlds of blunt contrasts. On a good note, daily at every turn, those contrasts offer privileged lessons on the richness and complexity of the human experience, of our world. In this observatory, it is irresistible not to have a geopolitical perspective on the dynamic of Africa’s relationship with the global south. And since the formal declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic on March 11, 2020 by WHO’s Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the reality of that stark contrast has never been more evident.

The Partnership Imperative for African Innovation in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

The third industrial revolution (3IR) provided perhaps the most significant insights into Africa’s potential to fast-track its sustainable development. As with previous industrial revolutions, the 3IR has affected the international division of labour. Gradually, Africa and a number of economies on the periphery – so described because they were traditional sources of raw materials – have become actors in a knowledge-driven competition, which is the hallmark of the 3IR.

Justice Oke’s Legacy Of Distinction

On June 10, 2019 the Honourable Chief Judge of Lagos State, Madame Justice Opeyemi Oke, would have attained mandatory retirement age of 65 years. She served in acting capacity from September 25, and was sworn in as Chief Judge on October 20, 2017. Her tenure is exactly 21 months which tallies with the tradition of an average of barely 12 months over a 10-year period for successive Chief Judges of Lagos State. For judiciary watchers and stakeholders in the administration of Justice, Oke’s tenure had no dull moment.

Op-EdChidi OguamanamJune 5, 2019Politics, Nigeria

The Nollywood Phenomenon: Innovation, Openness and Technical Opportunism in the Modeling of Successful African Entrepreneurship

Open AIR (African Innovation Research) Network
Working Paper No. 19 (2018)

Ocean Law Reform: A Multi-Level Comparative Law Analysis of Nigerian Maritime Zone Legislation

Marine Policy
Vol. 67 (2016)
Co-authored w/ Aldo Chircop & David Dzidzornu

Journal ArticleChidi OguamanamSeptember 9, 2016Nigeria, United Nations, International, Africa

Nigeria and Britain are ‘Fantastically Corrupt'

One of the off record welcome hospitality that the Conservative Prime Minister of Britain, Mr. David Cameron, extended to President Muhammadu Buhari who attended the May 10 Anti-Corruption Summit in London is his sneaky remark to the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, ahead of that summit that Nigeria (alongside Afghanistan) is a “fantastically corrupt” country. My impression is that Her Majesty may have a better sense of history than Cameron.

Op-EdChidi OguamanamMay 12, 2016Politics, Nigeria, International

Nigeria Faces New Security Threat Fuelled by Climate Change and Ethnicity

Forging national unity has been a perennial challenge to Nigeria’s evolution as a country. Since independence from Britain 56 years ago, the country continues to weather severe existential storms that strike at its very core. These make national cohesion and political stability largely elusive.

Op-EdChidi OguamanamMay 12, 2016Politics, Nigeria, Agriculture and Biodiversity

Herders’ Republic: Nigeria at Cusp of Another Security Crisis

Nigeria’s security challenges continue to escalate. While the Boko Haram insurgence keeps mutating, kidnappings and hostage taking for ransom rise in competition as side dishes in the main course of the country’s ignominious rise in terrorism profile. Yet, the abducted Chibok girls remain a scar on the conscience of the Nigerian government at all levels. At present, Nigeria’s abysmal human rights record is taking another stress at the instance of recent violent encounter between members of the Shiite Islamic sect and the military.

Op-EdChidi OguamanamMay 4, 2016Agriculture and Biodiversity, Politics, Nigeria

Fagbohun and the Challenge of Repositioning LASU

Nigeria’s tertiary education industry is increasingly competitive for all stakeholders. We have transitioned from the so-called first; second, third and, some would even suggest, to fourth generation universities. Except for professional bodies, both the federal and state governments have, until more than a decade ago, been the only major proprietary stakeholders in tertiary education.

Op-EdChidi OguamanamFebruary 11, 2016Politics, Nigeria, Education

Organic Farming in Nigeria in the Era of Agro-Biotech and Biosafety

Journal of Advances in Agricultural Science and Technology
Vol. 3, No. 6 (September 2015)

Journal ArticleChidi OguamanamSeptember 1, 2015Nigeria, Africa, Agriculture and Biodiversity

African Leaders' Blackmail of the International Criminal Court

In the last decade, warlordism has been on the decline in Africa. But terrorism and other forms of political combustion appear to be on the rise. Recent and ongoing disturbances across the continent are flashpoints of both Africa's political vulnerability and the continent's political renewal. As Africa engages its current positive, albeit, controversial economic transition, the tail of its political contradictions within a hypocritical world order continues to wag the continent.

Beyond 'Nollywood' and Piracy: In Search of an Intellectual Property Policy for Nigeria

NIALS Journal of Intellectual Property
Maiden Edition (2011)

Intellectual Property Training and Education: A Development Perspective

International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development
Issue Paper No. 31 (2010)
Co-authored w/ Jeremy de Beer

Ifeoma Stella Obi (1981-2008): A Tribute

On August 15, 2008 members of the African Diaspora Communities in the Maritime Region of Canada woke up to the shocking news of the death of one of their own, Ms. Ifeoma Stella Obi. Ifeoma was a Nigerian by birth who, like most members of her African circle of friends in Canada, migrated to that country in search of quality education.

Op-EdChidi OguamanamSeptember 12, 2008Obituary, Nigeria, Canada

Obama, McCain, and Nigeria’s Niger Delta

The Niger Delta: Nothing places Nigeria in the news lately more than the Niger Delta. Indeed, the Niger Delta is synonymous with the instability that Nigeria contributes to global oil supply and, by extension, the current global energy crisis. The Niger Delta now attracts some worrisome lexicon in the global report of news about Nigeria.

Op-EdChidi OguamanamAugust 13, 2008Politics, Nigeria, USA

Imo State: Lessons from Anambra

The emergence of Governor Ikedichi Ohakim of Imo State is one of the litanies of surprises in the last discredited general elections. In the period preceding the elections, Imo State was a theatrical site for the absurd.

Op-EdChidi OguamanamAugust 31, 2007Politics, Nigeria

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