The Yusufu Bala Usman Institute was established to preserve, enhance and build upon the legacy of late Dr. Yusufu Bala Usman (1945-2005) whose committed scholarship and politically engaged activities were aimed at moving Nigeria and the whole of Africa towards the vision of an equitable society, free from exploitation and oppression, where all citizens have the right to participate freely in a truly democratic society; where Nigeria and all of Africa can be liberated from the bonds of neocolonial and imperialist oppression and take their rightful place in the comity of nations as genuinely free and independent states.
Our aim is to critically examine and disseminate his ideas which, years after they were espoused, have proved prescient in their analysis of the society’s problems and provide possible solutions to the issues of today, and provide a foundation for creating new approaches, new ideas, and new institutions, that can move Nigeria forward into a more promising future.

In order to realise our mission, we will engage in wide-ranging, evidence-based, multidisciplinary research. Together with our international team of Associates and Resource persons, we have core competence in the following areas:

• Democratization and social justice
• Addressing inequality (economic, political, social)
• Environmental issues including impact of climate change
• Pastoralism and pastoral/farmer relations
• Gender issues
• Conflict and security
• Other problems of development

We will disseminate our findings through

• publications (books, articles and papers)
• seminars
• conferences
• media outreach (radio, TV and social media)

in order to create awareness of our findings and policy recommendations in the wider public, always keeping in mind our primary focus of finding solutions to the problems of Nigerian and African society.