Four notable Nigerians have been nominated, alongside 43 Africans, for the 2024 African Genius Awards (AGA).
The four Nigerians are Dr Charles Awuzie, a South African-based cybersecurity expert, CEO of Gemsbok Group, and co-founder of Transhuman Coin; John Amanam, a prosthetic artist and the first African to produce hyper-realistic prostheses for black people; Dr Oluyinka Olutoye, a United States-based world-renowned fetal and neonatal surgeon known for performing some of the world’s most complicated surgeries; and Claude Ake, a political scientist considered one of Africa’s foremost political philosophers.
African Genius Awards was launched in 2021 in a partnership between the University of Pretoria (UP) in South Africa and the African Genius Awards and aims to honour exceptional Africans who espouse the values that will take the continent forward through contribution towards the realisation of African self-determination, dignity, and exceptionalism.
According to the partners, to qualify for an AGA, a nominee has to meet certain criteria, specifically relating to one or more of problem-solving, global competitiveness, self-love, and patriotism.
“Performance needs to be determined as being indubitably extraordinary to warrant a genius status,” the partners stated.
Since the inception of the awards, the AGA Hall of Honour has been awarded to eight African geniuses.
These notable awardees, their countries, and year awarded include Bantu Stephen Biko (South Africa, 2021), Aliko Mohammed Dangote (Nigeria, 2021), Albert Chinụalụmọgụ Achebe (Nigeria, 2021), Professor Wole Soyinka (Nigeria, 2022), Professor Ngugi wa Thiong’o (Kenya, 2022), Prof Ali Mazrui (Kenya, 2022), Professor Tshilidzi Marwala (South Africa, 2023), and Dr Denis Mukwege (Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2023)
This year’s awards event is scheduled to take place in September in a West African country, making it the first time AGA will be held outside of South Africa.
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