By; BAYO AKAMO, Ibadan
Authorities at the University of Ibadan have appointed Professor Senayon Olaoluwa, the founding head of Diaspora and Transnational Studies at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, as the pioneer Director of the TETFund Centre of Excellence for Diaspora Studies.
The appointment according to a statement is with effect from the March 1, 2024, in the first instance.
It stressed that the Centre has received a TETFund take-off grant to the tune of N250, 000, 000.00 for research towards establishing a credible database for the Nigerian Diaspora, among others.
According to the statement, the award is in recognition of the multi-year partnership between the Diaspora and Transnational Studies programme and the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM).
The new Centre has also been granted a building infrastructure to the tune of N1, 000, 000, 000.00 by TETFund.
In what appears as some kind of happy coincidence, Prof. Senayon Olaoluwa’s Diaspora theory-inspired project won a pilot grant at the College Public Health at the University of Iowa, USA.
Therefore, using the theory, “extalgia” by Prof Olaoluwa, the consortium comprising scholars from College of Public Health, University of Iowa, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan and the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, will be investigating “Emigration and Mental Health Outcomes among the Left-behind Families in Ibadan, Nigeria”.
