Afejuku speaks on Achebe at Harvard philosophers’ gathering

• Seven UNIBEN teachers get research grants, two bag awards

Versatile don, scholar-poet and newspaper columnist, Professor Tony Afejuku, has delivered a lecture to a select gathering of philosophers of phenomenological bent from Europe, the United States, Asia, Africa and Latin America at Harvard University.

The University of Benin (UNIBEN) teacher spoke on Chinua Achebe from the perspective of existential philosophy. He and another Nigerian scholar and philosopher, Professor Imafada Okhamafe, of University of Nebraska, also in the USA were the only black intellectuals invited to the event which took place at the Harvard University Faculty Club on June 9, 2016.

Earlier, in May, Afejuku was at the University of Florida, Gainesville, USA which hosted the Conference of The International Society For the Oral Literatures of Africa (ISOLA) where he read a paper on the subject of the falsehood of memory in the autobiographies of Wole Soyinka, Camara Laye, Lawrence Vambe, Ngugi wa Thiongo, Jomo Kenyatta, Naboth Mogatle and Nelson Mandela. Afejuku is expected back in the country shortly after concluding other scholastic duties.

Meanwhile, seven lecturers from different faculties and departments of the University of Benin have received grants to undertake research in their various areas of specialization, while others have been recognized in the field of research.

Dr. Enitome E. Bafor was awarded the highly competitive TWAS COMSTECH grant to undertake research on the isolation, identification and pharmacological evaluation of uterine active constituents of some tropical plants.

She is of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy. Also in the research, Mr. Kissinger Obasogie Orumwensodia, an Assistant Lecturer of the Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Life Sciences, was awarded the prestigious Third World Academy of Science (ICCB TWAS) fellowship for 2015 to undertake an advance study center for Chemical and Biological Research, University of Karachi, Pakistan
Currently, he is interested in the isolation and characterization of anti plasmodia agents in some local herbs. There is greater hope that at the end of the study, useful data would have been generated to help in the fighting of Malaria menace.

Another beneficiary in the ICCbs-TWAS award is Mr. O.K. Ogbeide. He was awarded ICCBs TWAZ Postgraduate Fellowship to pursue a Ph.D research programme at the International center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBs), University of Karachi and the TWAS, Italy to execute advanced and malaria research.

Mr. O.K. Ogbeide is currently an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Physical Sciences.

Mr. Bright Eguasa who is a Graduate Assistant in the Department of Mathematics was also awarded the prestigious VlaamseinteruniversitaireRaad University of Development Cooperation (VLIR UOS) scholarship by the Belgian Federal Government for the 2016/2017 academic session. He is to undergo training for a masters degree in Biostatistics in Hasselt University, Belgium.

Also, Mr. Joel Aitalokhai Edegbai of the Department of Geology was selected for the Fullbright Junior Staff Development (JSD) programme. Mr. Edegbai who is a lecturer II will undertake an advanced research Ph.D in the USA with the task of understanding the internal variability of mudstone reservoirs.

Another dividend of the Fulbright Regional Workshop which was held in the University of Benin is the selection of Osayemwenre Erharuyi who is to undertake advanced anti-cancer drug discovery. The pharmacist is a Lecturer II in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry.

Miss Chidinma Angela Onyeri, an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Plant Biology and Biotechnology has been awarded the Schlumberger Foundation Faculty for the Future Fellowship to undertake her PhD study in the UK. Her research is on Bioethanol Production from Lignocellulosic Wastes using engineered saccharomyces cerevisiae. She hopes to construct a novel industrial yeast strain with inhibitor tolerance and capable of producing ethanol from lognocellulose hydrolysate containing xylose and cellobiose.

Dr. Ngozi Finette Stewart, a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Law was appointed a research fellow at the United Nations’ University Institute of National Resources in Africa, Accra, Ghana.

The UN runs 13 different specialist institutes worldwide where 136 research fellows are engaged in diverse fields to fashion out engagement framework for particular needs in the various countries.

She also was a visiting lecturer at the Sultan Qaboos University, Oman from September to January 2016.Also, Dr. Etinosa of the Department of Microbiology was awarded Germany’s most competitive Humbodlt George Foster Experienced Research Fellowship. The key aim of his research project is to examine comparative Investigation of antibiotic-resistant, food borne pathogens in plant and meat products in Nigeria and Germany. He is to work with Prof. Charles Franz, Head of Department, Microbiology and Biotechnology at the Max Rubner-Institute (MRI), Federal Research Institute for Nutrition and Food at Kiel, Germany.