Nigerian university hosts AFEA conference on Africa’s position amid global realignment

This year’s conference will be hosted by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Nile University in Abuja, between 3 and 5 July.

The African Finance and Economics Association (AFEA) has announced that its 2026 Annual Conference will focus squarely on Africa’s development trajectory in an era of global realignment.

Themed “Africa’s Geoeconomic Development Agenda in a Global Realignment Era”, the conference will convene scholars, researchers, policymakers, and postgraduate students to examine how shifting alliances, intensifying great-power competition, and emerging global challenges are reshaping Africa’s economic and political future.

This year’s conference will be hosted by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Nile University in Abuja, between 3 and 5 July.

“The aim is to foster interdisciplinary dialogue that advances scholarly understanding of Africa’s place in contemporary global politics and development debates,” the conference organisers said.

Call for papers

The organisers have also called on academics to submit papers and proposals for panels, symposia, tutorials, prize lectures, posters, and workshops on a wide-ranging themes.

Organisers asked authors to submit abstracts of up to 300 words or 2–4 pages, full papers, or proposals for workshops and panels.

The call explained that submissions must follow a strict two-title-page format to ensure blind peer review. It added that submissions are to be prepared in MS Word and submitted electronically.

For submissions involving co-authors, at least one author must be a registered member of AFEA, it said.

The organisers said submissions for organised sessions should include the title for the session, chairperson of the session and their affiliation; a list of the three to five titles for the session, including the names and affiliations of the authors; a one to two paragraphs description of the session for the conference programme; and a one to two paragraph description of the sessionʼs papers and the topical relationship among them.

“The Selected Papers Committee will evaluate submissions based on significance to the field, strength of methodology, clarity of writing, and thematic relevance. Organised session proposals will be assessed for coherence, research rigour, and contribution to the discipline.”

The organisers said accepted submissions will be published in the official conference proceedings.

They encouraged the authors to submit full papers for consideration in the Best Paper Awards categories to be announced at the conference. The awards recognise outstanding work by regular faculty, junior faculty and doctoral students.

“Winners of the Best Paper Awards will be eligible for fast-track review and publication in the Journal of African Development. Only full papers received by 2 June 2026 will qualify for the competition,” they added.

Themes, sub-themes

The themes and sub-themes for submissions include development finance, debt sustainability, and global financial governance; health systems governance, social protection, and digital service delivery; conflict, fragility, peace, and security; financial inclusion, fintech, mobile money, and cybersecurity; and cross-border data flows, trade agreements, and continental digital markets.

Others are governance, democracy, nationalism, and authoritarian influences; artificial intelligence, regulatory frameworks, and industrial policy; natural resources, energy geopolitics, climate change, and green transitions; Africa’s relations with emerging powers such as China, India, and Russia; and taxation, illicit financial flows, and domestic resource mobilisation.

Further areas of focus include youth, gender, demographic change, and inclusive development; migration, urbanisation, and spatial inequality; political psychology, identity, culture, and media; methodologies for teaching and researching economics and social sciences; and Africa–West relations in aid, trade, and security.

“Further information concerning annual meeting registration and the final programme will be published on AFEA social media platforms, as well as in the spring issue of the AFEA Newsletter and on the AFEA website. For more information, please contact the AFEA-NUN Co-Chair, Samuel Amponsah( samponsa@afea1.org); AFEA-NUN Co-Chair and Host, Jide Oladipo, jide.oladipo@nileuniversity.edu.ng, AFEA President Socrates Majune (president@afea1.org); and the AFEA-NUN Selected Papers and Conference Publication Committee Chair, Gbadebo Odularu, boardchair@afea1.org,” the statement added.