In early December 2022, the prestigious business newspaper The Financial Times, included my book in their list of the “Best Books of 2022” in the Economics category.
In April 2022, I was featured in The Africa Report’s special report on “African Voices in Washington D.C.” The report is a seven-part series that includes a background piece, entitled “Meet the Africans running programmes at influential U.S. think tanks” that explains how the D.C. think tank landscape is changing with the appointment of people … More I was Profiled in The Africa Report’s Special Report on African Voices in Washington D.C.
In the week starting March 7 2022, I was in Guyana, South America, to discuss strategies for oil-led development in the 21st century. I had a very engaging exchange with the business community, scholars, students, the media, policymakers and development partners on the opportunities and challenges that newfound oil/gas resources present to Guyana. As you … More Trip to Guyana to Discuss Oil-Led Development in the 21st Century
In the run-up to the 2021 UN Climate Summit COP26 in Glasgow, I co-authored this important new report with eight other energy and development experts from across Africa and the US on “Reframing Climate Justice for Development: Six Principles for Supporting Inclusive and Equitable Energy Transitions in Low-Emitting Energy-Poor African Countries“. The full report can … More Reframing Climate Justice: Low Income Countries and the Energy Transition
In October this year, some of my decade-long work and ideas on economic diversification in Africa was profiled in the New York Times. Very thankful to Peter Coy, the economics columnist and writer for the NYT, for finding my ideas interesting enough to devote an entire article to showcasing them with diligence and respect. Read … More My Work on Economic Diversification is Featured in the New York Times
On 28 September 2020, I made a presentation at this webinar organized by Chatham House in London.
In September 2020, I co-authored this short essay on how safety nets can help ease the social and economic impacts of COVID-19. It was initially published on the World Bank blogs and later republished by the CFI magazine. Across the world, governments have geared up to respond to the socio-economic shock of the coronavirus pandemic. … More Can Safety Nets Ease the Social and Economic Impacts of COVID-19 in Africa?
This is coming rather late, but better now than never. In December 2019, I was back in Oxford for a conference on “20 Years of Democracy in Nigeria: 1999-2019“. The conference was convened by Professor Wale Adebanwi on 6th December at St. Antony’s College and the Blavatnik School of Government. It started with a keynote … More Photos from the “20 Years of Democracy in Nigeria: 1999-2019” in December 2019
My paper has just been published by the journal, African Affairs. Drawing on my doctoral research, the article has been four years (!) in the making, and I’m so excited and relieved that it is finally out. I had initially published it as a working paper in 2016, and its gone through a lot of … More Journal Article: the Successes and Failures of Economic Reform in Nigeria’s Post-Military Political Settlement
As you know, I recently co-authored a report on “The Future of Work in Africa: Harnessing the Potential of Digital Technologies for All”. I’m sharing below, some outputs from activities around the report. Here is a video of the report launch at Brookings Institution on 17 October 2019.
I recently wrote a blog post, for the World Bank’s Sustainable Energy for All blog, on the lessons developing countries can learn from Morocco’s experience with power sector reforms. This is based on my recently published research paper on “Lessons from Power Sector Reforms: the Case of Morocco“. Here’s the blog post below. It’s also … More What Can Developing Countries Learn from Morocco’s Experience with Power Sector Reforms?
Source: Cover of the Rethinking Power Sector Reforms On the 10th of September 2019, a new World Bank Report was published entitled, “Rethinking Power Sector Reforms in the Developing World“. The report is part of a multi year initiative that aims to refresh the policy debate on the electric power sector. It presents a … More New World Bank Report, “Rethinking Power Sector Reforms in the Developing World”
I co-wrote this blog post for the World Bank’s blog series to explain our new report on “The Future of Work in Africa: Harnessing the Potential of Digital Technologies for All“. We identify certain productive investments needed in African countries to secure for more and better jobs. I am reproducing it below, and you can … More Blog Post – The Future of Work in Africa: Making Productive Investments for More and Better Jobs
Our new World Bank report, “The Future of Work in Africa: Harnessing the Potential of Digital Technologies for All” was recently published. I’m very pleased to have co-authored this publication on such a critical topic on the agenda of governments across Africa. My colleagues and I examine the roles of skills, informality and social protection … More New Report Published: The Future of Work in Africa
On April 25th 2019, I participated in the global launch of the National Oil Company Database at the Open Government Hub in Washington DC. The database is a product of the Natural Resources Governance Institute (NRGI). It is a very useful resource for policymakers, reform advocates and researchers to understand these state owned enterprises! Here’s … More Global Launch of the National Oil Company Database by NRGI
Zainab Usman 