Funmi Iyanda

Nigerian popular talk-show host, Funmi Iyanda, will hold a special edition of her panel series tagged #HowToFixNigeria at the Africa Utopia Festival in London on Wednesday, 31 August.

The series is organised by the award-winning broadcaster’s Oya Media in collaboration with the Royal African Society as part of the Africa Utopia Festival and will hold at The Clore Ballroom, Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London.

To be moderated by Funmi Iyanda, the event will focus on gender inequality in Nigeria, and look at the ways in which women and men are fighting sexism and patriarchal oppression.

Iyanda, who recently signed a management deal with Temple Management Company explains: “The series seeks to address the underlying causes of patriarchy in Nigeria, the costs to nation building, prosperity and happiness of the populace and ways of dismantling structures of patriarchy in ways true to Nigeria.”

The Africa Utopia Festival was conceived by Jude Kelly, artistic director at the Southbank Centre and Senegalese singer Baaba Maal.

It was launched in 2012, as part of the Southbank Centre’s cultural and artistic response to the 2012 London Olympics. With a focus on gender inequality in Nigeria, the series features a brilliant set of panelists that includes Women’s Rights and Social Development Advocate, Fatimah Kelleher, Technical Adviser, Women’s Protection & Empowerment- Europe, Asia, Caucaus & Middle East (International Rescue Committee), Dorcas Erskine and Nigerian novelist, satirist, writer and lawyer, Elnathan John.

The series was conceived to bring together a broad range of speakers to discuss practical solutions to Nigeria’s contemporary challenges – and to definitively explore ‘How to Fix Nigeria’.

A previous edition of the series held in March and featured Prof. Charles Soludo, Feyi Fawehinmi and Natznet Tesfay.