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ABU Sociology Lecturer Wins 2023 Rahamon Bello Best Ph.D. Thesis Award in African and Diaspora Studies

There is a new winner of the Rahamon Bello Best Ph.D Thesis Award in African and Diaspora Studies. He is Dr. Muhammad Ribadu Ayuba, a lecturer of Sociology at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

His announcement as the winner of the award was made by the Director of the Institute of African and Diaspora Studies (IADS), University of Lagos, Professor Muyiwa Falaiye, at the J.P. Clark Building of the Institute on Thursday, November 30, 2023.

Professor Muyiwa Falaiye

In his address, the Director of the Institute described the award as a keenly contested exercise, which attracted submissions from three African countries: Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. His words: “The Rahamon Bello Best Ph.D Thesis Award is an annual event that we have here at the Institute of African and Diaspora Studies in honour of the 11th Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Prof. Rahamon Bello. He was in office at the time of the establishment of the Institute, and the significant role he played in that establishment will forever remain indelible in our hearts”.

He continued, “This year, 18 PhD theses were submitted, with quite a few disqualified for not meeting the entry criteria. There were three independent Assessors who reviewed the entries, individually and collectively as a body. As it is our tradition here at the IADS, we do not question the decision of our Assessors. Interestingly, what has been recurrent in the last 4 years is that the winners have always been the consensus choice of the Assessors. It is the same this year”.

Professor Falaiye commended the quality of entries by the candidates, and the painstaking job done by the Assessors. He disclosed that deliberations are ongoing about widening the arena to accommodate entries from other parts of the world, affirming that the decision on that would soon be made known.

The winning entry of Dr. Muhammad Ribadu Ayuba was his Ph.D thesis, titled The Social Context of Gentrification in Lagos State, Nigeria, done at the University of Ibadan and submitted in January 2023. He will go home with a Cash Prize of $1,000 (One thousand US Dollars), a Plaque, and a Certificate.

Dr. Oluwaseyi Omowunmi Popogbe emerged as the 1st Runner-Up with her thesis titled, Social Exclusion and Poverty in Selected Coastal Slum Areas in Lagos State, Nigeria, done at the University of Lagos and submitted in December 2022. She is a lecturer at Crawford University, Igbesa, Ogun State. The 2nd Runner-Up was Dr. Charles Terseer Akwen, with his thesis titled, Notions of Identity in the Literary Creativity of Odia Ofeimun and Yang Mu, done at the University of Lagos and submitted in December 2022. He is a lecturer at the University of Lagos.

The Award Presentation ceremony will hold at 10:00am on Wednesday, December 6, 2023 at the Institute of African and Diaspora Studies, University of Lagos.

The 2023 Rahamon Bello Best Ph.D Thesis Award in African and Diaspora Studies is the 4th in the series since the inception of the award in 2020. The prestigious award seeks to encourage and appreciate young intellectuals whose Ph.D. theses address African and diaspora issues and the reconfiguration of African Studies.

The Assessors for the 2023 Rahamon Bello Best Ph.D Thesis Award are: Professor Oyeniyi Okunoye (Lead Assessor) from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria ; Professor Omolade Adunbi from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA; and Professor Jamin Masinde from Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya.

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