The Institute for Development Research (IDR) was established on July 1, 1998. It was established with the aim of undertaking cutting-edge research into development issues and problems that confront Nigeria specifically. However, in order to be part of a larger community of researchers, IDR has interest in issues in the West Africa sub-region and in Africa as a whole.
It is also an Institute with interest in global development issues and engages in collaborative research with counterpart institutes and centres in other parts of the world. In this way it would be part of the development debates and discourses taking place globally.