UI don wins UNILAG’s African, Diaspora Best PhD thesis award

A sociologist and research fellow at the Institute of African Studies, University of lbadan, Nigeria, Dr Adebayo Kudus Oluwatoyin, has emerged winner of the 2020 Rahamon Bello Best PhD Thesis in African & Diaspora Studies Award instituted by the University of Lagos (UNILAG).

The award, worth US$1,000 (about N430, 000) is named in honour of the immediate past Vice–Chancellor of UNILAG, Professor Rahamon Bello, who sponsored half of the value of the award.

Dr Abiodun Muyideen  Bello from UNILAG and Dr Nonzuzo Mbakazi  from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, won the second and third prize of the competition.

They were announced top three out of the 29 applications received from South Africa, Cameroon and Nigeria at the award presentation ceremony held at the Institute of African & Diaspora Studies of UNILAG under which the award is domiciled.

Dr Adebayo’s thesis is titled, Migration and Settlement Experiences of Nigerians in Guangzhou, China and he had been presented with a certificate and US$1,000 cash prize at the ceremony.

The two runners-up were also recognised and presented with certificates of merit at the event.

Explaining the driving force behind the award, the organiser said it was to encourage the emergence of more detailed and focused contemporary scholarship in African Studies that would push back the theoretical and practical frontiers of research in African universities.

Speaking to newsmen after the ceremony, former vice-chancellor of UNILAG, Professor Bello, said he did not endow the award but only volunteered to support its money value with US500 dollars because it was not doing well with the initial US500 dollars worth.

He said the reason was to encourage more quality applications from scholars across Africa, and congratulated the winner and the two runners-up on their efforts, urging them  not to rest on their oars.

Speaking earlier, the chairman of the Award Selection Committee and former vice-chancellor of Caleb University, Imota,  Ogun State, Professor Ayo Olukoju, said the award showed that Nigerian scholars were  still conducting quality researches locally.

According to Professor Olukoju, the research efforts are good encouragement to many researchers not only in Nigeria but also across Africa.

The recipient, Dr Adebayo expressed excitement, particularly for the award being instituted by a Nigerian university, noting that such opportunity often came from foreign institutions.

He explained that his thesis was basically to understand how Nigerians move to China, settle there and make impacts, despite various challenges confronting them.

He commended the African & Diaspora Studies of UNILAG for instituting the award, saying the impact would certainly be non-quantifiable.

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