Ghana’s former President, Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings, left Accra on Sunday for Abuja, Nigeria, to address an international conference on Emerging Democracies in Africa, taking place on June 17 and 18.

President Rawlings will deliver the keynote address on the topic, Emerging Democracies in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities at the opening session of the conference at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja on Monday.

The conference, which is organised by the Nigeria National Institute for Legislative Studies and the Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa (AWEPA), will bring together statesmen, parliamentarians, civil society, the academia, development partners and critical stakeholders to explore the different dimensions of threats and challenges as well as opportunities that confront emerging democracies.

The conference will explore the environmental, socio-economic and political context of emerging democracies and identify the challenges and opportunities for strengthening democratic institutions and practices.

It will also evaluate the role and weaknesses of institutions and actors in the democratic process of emerging democracies and how the weaknesses can be addressed.

The National Institute for Legislative Studies is an organ of the Nigeria National Assembly established by an Act of Parliament and signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011 to ensure the provision of quality academic and professional research, policy analysis, training, documentation and advocacy on democratic governance and legislative practice and procedures for members of Parliament.

The Association of European Parliamentarians for Africa (AWEPA) is an international non-governmental organisation founded by European Parliamentarians to reduce poverty and to protect human rights by supporting the well functioning of parliaments in Africa and by keeping Africa on the political agenda in Europe.