Monrovia — A young Liberia researcher and activist has been admitted into the revered Adam Smith Fellowship program that seeks to encourage doctoral students to critically engage key thinkers in political economy. Mr. Ibrahim Al-bakri Nyei will spend the next academic year 2018/19 as a research fellow at the Virginia-based Mercatus Center located at George Mason University. He will be joining a dozen others from around the world.
The Mercatus Center's Adam Smith Fellowships are exceedingly competitive and merit-based. They are awarded to graduate students pursuing doctorates in a variety of fields including economics, philosophy, political science and sociology, among many others. The Fellowship serve as excellent academic tools and are a co-sponsored program of the Mercatus Center and Liberty Fund, Inc.
Nyei did not mince his words when asked what this Fellowship means to him and how would he utilize the tools, skills or knowledge gained:
"This fellowship is a great opportunity for me in advancing my academic career. It has come when I am in the middle of my doctoral studies. As a student of politics, the political economy question and theories that this Fellowship focuses on are so contemporary that I will need them in my professional career whether in policy or academia. For example, some issues have to do with markets and society, liberty and self-governance. These are all critical political issues in the world today."
It is imperative to note that the competitive nature of the Fellowship nearly forced Nyei into suppressing his interest in applying. However, his ability to swiftly transform this feeling into a virtue is worth noting:
"It was a [highly] competitive process and I was initially hesitant to apply due to [this]. But I have been advised by Professor Amos Sawyer to never shy away from competitions. So, I put my application together and amazingly got an email that I was selected."
Nyei is currently pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He previously studied at the Maastricht University in the Netherlands where he obtained a Master of Science in Public Policy and Development; and the A.M.E. University in Liberia where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science graduating with the honor of Magna Cum Laude.
He also possesses more than ten years of experience as an activist, public servant and newspaper columnist. Over the last ten years, Neyi has worked with the Governance Commission of Liberia, serving in multiple capacities including his current post as the Program Manager and Senior Policy Analyst for Political and Legal Reforms. In this capacity, he is the Commission's lead technical staff on decentralization and local governance reforms and constitutional reform.
Nyei's social justice activism transcends Liberia's bounds. He has spent the last few years of his career fervently supporting international and regional efforts directed at building and sustaining Africa's democracy. For instance, he has served on numerous occasions as an international election observer for the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States. He has observed elections in some of Africa's most troubling and problematic contexts such as in Egypt 2015, Guinea Bissau 2014, Mali 2013, Nigeria 2011 and 2015 and in other less troubled contexts such as Zambia 2016.
Now an Adam Smith Fellow, Nyei will officially join others for the first colloquium of the fellowship from September 6 - 9 focusing on the theme of 'Liberty and the Market Process: Key Contributions from Austrian Economics'. The program is expected to end on August 15th, 2019, according to the University. The one-year program is directly targeted at doctoral students from any university and in any academic discipline with interest in honing their skills in political economy.
