The Institute of African and Diaspora Studies (IADS), University of Lagos (UNILAG) has announced Rotimi Oluseyi Obateru, a lecturer at the Department of Geography, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, as the winner of the 2025 Rahamon Bello Best PhD Thesis Award in African Studies.
Director of the Institute, Research Professor Ayodele Yusuff, made the announcement on Monday, November 24, 2025, at the J.P. Clark Building of the Institute.
According to Research Professor Yusuff, the institute received a total of thirty-eight (38) submissions out of which thirty-three ( 33) came from Nigeria, three (3) from South Africa and one (1) from the Republic of Benin.
Rotimi Obateru emerged winner for his thesis, titled: Dynamics of Urban Landscape Structure and its Impact on Ecosystem Services in the Rainforest and Guinea Savannah Eco-regions of Nigeria. The thesis is for PhD (2025) in Climate Change and Human Habitat at the Federal University of Technology. Minna, Niger State.
Nombulelo Tholithemba Shange from the University of Free State, South Africa took the First Runner-Up (second) position with the Thesis titled Identity and Environmental Harmony as Practised by Table Mountain Doctors: A Struggle over Land and African Healing Systems being a research for a PhD (2024) in Anthropology.
The second runner up (third position) went the way of Abdullahi Babagana, a lecturer at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, for his thesis titled Analysis of Terrorist Attack Places in Maiduguri, Nigeria for a PhD (2025) in Urban and Regional Planning.
The official presentation of the Award is scheduled for Thursday, December 4, 2025 at the IADS Gallery, J. P. Clark Building.
The Rahamon Bello Best PhD Thesis in African and Diaspora Studies Award was instituted in 2020, to promote the development of in-depth and targeted contemporary scholarship in African Studies. The award is named after the 11th Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Professor Rahamon Bello, in acknowledgment and celebration of his generous support and commitment to the promotion of African Studies.
Report: Gbenga Gbelee
Photograph: Ayomide Oloyede
