Month: May 2017

Chukwu-Emeka Chikezie Receives MBE Award from Queen Elizabeth II

Chukwu-Emeka Chikezie has received his Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) from Her Majesty The Queen, Elizabeth II in a ceremony at the Buckingham Palace on Friday, May 5th.

Chukwu-Emeka is the Executive Director and co-founder of the London-based African Foundation for Development (AFFORD), an organization with a mission to expand and enhance the contribution that Africans in the Diaspora make to Africa’s development.

He is of dual Nigerian/Sierra Leonean origin with family ties extending to Equitorial Guinea. He has worked as a consultant for several international development donor agencies around engaging the Diaspora in development and has commented widely on migration and development issues in the media and in public fora.

Chukwu-Emeka was educated at early primary school in Cheltenham, UK followed by later primary and secondary schools in Freetown. His first two years of university were at FBC, Freetown with the remainder at Gloucestershire College of Arts and Technology, Northeast London Polytechnic (now University of East London) the London College of Printing and Distributive Trades and City University.

Dr. Folasade Olajuyigbe Wins 2017 Fulbright African Research Scholar Program Award

Dr. Folasade Olajuyigbe, a senior lecturer in the Department of Biochemistry of the Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA), has been named winner of the 2017 Fulbright African Research Scholar Program (ARSP) award for advanced research in the United States of America for 2017/2018 academic year.

Dr. Olajuyigbe, whose area of research interest is enzyme biotechnology and environmental health, will focus on this area during her stint in the prestigious international exchange program in the world.

Mrs. Folasade Olajuyigbe will be affiliated with Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. The Fulbright African Research Scholar Program (ARSP) offers senior faculty members from top African universities the opportunity to conduct independent research at U.S. institutions.

Mrs. Olajuyigbe was picked from a pool of 700 candidates who initially applied for the fellowship from Nigeria. Sixteen candidates were shortlisted for the interview from where five finalists were picked.

Over 155 countries worldwide, including Nigeria participate in this program. The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and those of other countries.

Fulbright Scholars (Senior Research Program category) are highly motivated academics with strong academic background, professional achievements, high leadership potential, passion for increasing mutual understanding among nations and cultures and serious commitment to completing the program and returning home. Fulbright Scholars serve as cultural ambassadors and are prepared to speak about their countries, cultures and research to academic and community groups.

OAU Receives $2 Million For Cancer Research

The Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, has been awarded the sum of two million dollars ($2 million) by the Cancer Research Institute (CRI) in the United States, for cancer research into a permanent yet affordable treatment of the disease.

The synergy between CRI and the OAU Medical College actually began in 2010 with a ten (10) year plan, which surprisingly was attained within a few years.

Dayo Aiyetan Wins 2017-2018 Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellowship

The University of Michigan has named Dayo Aiyetan, Executive Director, International Center for Investigative Reporting, Abuja, Nigeria as one of its Fellow for its Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellowship Programme for the 2017-2018 academic year. The group, which includes 12 Americans and seven international journalists, is the 44th class of journalism fellows at the University.

Dayo Aiyetan’s study project is Advancing best practices for whistle blowing platforms to support investigative reporting in Nigeria.

Knight-Wallace Fellows spend an academic year at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor to pursue individual study plans and to engage in collaborative learning through fellowship seminars, training workshops and travel. Through twice-weekly seminars, Fellows engage with visiting journalists, eminent scholars and creative thinkers from a range of fields. Weeklong international news tours provide broader context to political, economic and social forces shaping their fields of study, and to trends and challenges facing journalism in other countries.

The program is based at Wallace House, a gift from the late newsman Mike Wallace and his wife, Mary. Knight-Wallace Fellows receive a stipend of $70,000 for the eight-month academic year plus full tuition and health insurance. The programme is entirely funded through endowment gifts by foundations, news organizations and individuals committed to improving the quality of information reaching the public.

 

UBA Wins Asian Banker Award for Project Execution

United Bank of Africa Plc, (UBA) has won the Asian Banker Award for project execution – the first time that an African owned bank is winning such award. The recognition is hinged on the pioneering role that the bank played in adopting the Finacle Core Banking Application in undertaking such major technology decisions as core bank replacements.

Finacle as a core banking product and the services of CWG Plc and Infosys has supported the extremely fast growth of UBA to more than 18 African countries and position as the highest issuer of debit cards.