Nov. 30, 2023

The Institute of African and Diaspora Studies (IADS), University of Lagos, has announced Dr. Muhammad Ribadu as winner of this year’s Rahamon Bello Best PhD thesis in African Studies award.

The Director of the institute, Prof. Muyiwa Falaiye, made the announcement in a statement issued to newsmen on Thursday in Lagos.

Ribadu, of the University of Ibadan, will be rewarded with a total of 1000 dollars, a plaque and a certificate.

Falaiye said a total of 18 entries for the 4th edition of competition were received from various universities in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa.

He gave the title of the winning thesis as: The Social Context of Gentrification in Lagos State; PhD (Jan. 2023) Department of Sociology, University of Ibadan.

“The first runner up for this competition was Oluwaseyi Popogbe, currently a lecturer at the Department of Economics, Crawford University in Ogun.

“The title of his thesis is: Social Exclusion and Poverty in Selected Coastal Slum Areas in Lagos State; Ph.D (Dec. 2022) Department of Economics University of Lagos.

“The second runner up position went to Dr Charles Akwen, currently a lecturer at the Department of English, University of Lagos.

“Akwen’s thesis is titled: Notions of Identity in the Literary Creativity of Odia Ofeimun and Yang Mu; Ph.D (Dec. 2022) English Literature, University of Lagos,” the director stated.

He said that both the first and second runners up would be awarded plaques and certificates in recognition of their contributions and hard work.

Falaiye noted that the competition was in honour of Prof. Rahamon Bello, who was the 10th Vice Chancellor of the university, at the time the institute was inaugurated.

The prize money is usually donated every year for the award by friends of Prof. Bello.

Falaiye said that Dec, 6, had been fixed for the presentation of the awards.