A Nigerian historian and Professor of African Studies, Toyin Falola, will on Monday deliver the 54th convocation lecture of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka.
Prof Falola will speak on the theme: “Decolonising African Higher Education for Transformational Development,” and the event will be chaired by Yemi Ogunbiyi, a former Pro-Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU).
The university’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof Folasade Ogunsola, who disclosed this on Wednesday during the pre-convocation press conference, said Prof Falola, alongside two others, will be conferred Honorary Doctorate degrees for contributing to scholarship and societal development in various fields.
Other awardees are Phyllis Kanki, a professor of immunology at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health in Boston; and Attahiru Jega, a professor of Political Science and former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
More about awardees
Prof Falola, according to the VC, is a globally acclaimed influential humanities scholar whose wide-ranging scholarship has placed him at the zenith of the global academy.
Prof Mrs Kanki, through her work in West Africa, was the first person to isolate HIV2, which causes a milder form of AIDS that was more commonly found in West Africa. She is said to have contributed significantly to medical education, HIV research, and building research capacity in Nigeria, and Africa.
Prof Jega, according to Prof Mrs Ogunsola, is a sound intellectual and an astute administrator with a strong sense of ethics, which “revolutionised Nigeria’s electoral process and conducted an internationally acclaimed free and fair election.
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