TheCable

The Federal University Lokoja, Kogi state, on Saturday, honoured Toyin Falola, renowned professor of history, with a doctoral degree.

The award was part of programmes to mark the fifth convocation of the university.

While delivering the professor’s citation, the university’s orator described Falola as “‘igi iwe’ (the tree of knowledge)”.

“Professor Toyin Falola, preferably called TF by his admirers and friends, has become a beacon of hope to generations of young scholars in a society that is highly polarised by ethnic and religious sentiments,” the orator said.

“TF is a great Nigerian patriot and nation builder who moves from Calabar to Maiduguri, from Sokoto to Ibadan, from Kaduna to Ile-Ife, from Lagos to Jos and from Enugu to Abuja, sharing his wealth of knowledge, wisdom and human nature to generation of academics. TF’s academic broad-mindedness traverses the African continent — from Cairo to Cape Town and from Dakar to Djibouti — with his prolific writing and academic wisdom for African human growth and resources enhancement.

“TF has, through his styles of writing and conferences, invigorated academic scholarship. His character and intellectual contributions to scholarship have earned him epithets such as ‘irumole iwe’ (the deity of knowledge).

“TF is a great African ambassador to the world in academic output and mentorship knowledge production and dissemination. TF is African in all ramification – dressing, African art and food patronage — lives in an Africanised home in the diaspora, and continuously repositions the African viewpoint in the world order of knowledge.

“His latest Toyin Falola ‘Interview Series’ is another avenue he developed to interact with great African leaders on possible ways to proffer solutions to numerous challenges that have confronted the continent. For his eloquence and conviviality, he became ‘a mouth sweeter than salt’ in literature and to his teeming admirers. Falola’s friends declare him as the most ubiquitous person they have journeyed with – the bridge to many channels.”

In his speech, Olayemi Akinwumi, vice-chancellor of the Federal University Lokoja, commended Falola for his contributions to the progress of the institution.

“Let me use this golden opportunity to express my sincere appreciation to our convocation lecturer, professor Toyin Falola, professor of African history at the University of Texas at Austin, Texas, USA, for his scintillating, topical convocation lecture entitled: ‘Africa in the Throes of Double Pandemic: COVID-19, Terrorism and the Future of Education in the New Normal’,” Akinwumi said.

“The lecture was very interesting, stimulating and highly educative. Before this day, the department of history and international studies had organised a one-day conference in his honour tagged: ‘Insurgency, Armed Banditry and Ethno-Religious Conflicts in Nigeria’. This conference was attended by academics within and outside the shores of Nigeria. We thank professor Toyin Falola profusely for sponsoring the conference and providing logistics and accommodation for the conferees.”

In his remarks, Falola thanked the university and congratulated the graduating students.

He also encouraged the vice-chancellor to remain committed in his efforts to bring sustainable development to the institution.

A total of 14 students bagged first class degrees, 188 students got second class upper degrees, 441 got second class lower, and 95 students graduated with third class.