By Babatunde Michael
One of Nigeria’s foremost Professors of Political Science and Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Federal University Oye Ekiti (FUOYE), Ekiti State, Professor Jeremiah Shola Omotola, has won the 2023 Claude Ake Visiting Chair of the Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University (DPCR), Sweden.
Omotola, a distinguished international Professor of Political Science emerged overall best of this year’s Claude Ake Visiting Chair following his flawless research proposal submitted to the DPCR in collaboration with the Nordic Africa Institute.
The prestigious Claude Ake Visiting Chair was inaugurated in 2003 in memory of Nigeria’s renowned Political Economist, Professor Claude Ake, who died in the Boeing 727 airplane crash disaster on November 7, 1996.
Professor Claude Ake, a top-rate political economist, had a distinguished academic career having taught in many universities at home and abroad.
Following his tragic death in 1996, DPCR in collaboration with Nordic Africa Institute (NAI) and with funding from the Swedish Government and Uppsala University, inaugurated the Claude Ake Visiting Chair to honour Prof Ake’s memory.
The Claude Ake Visiting Chair is one of the most prestigious fellowships in the field of Political Science.
According to DPCR, it was set up among others, to showcase scholars, who, like Ake combined a profound commitment to scholarship with a strong advocacy for social justice.
This, DPCR said in a statement that Professor Omotola of the Federal University Oye Ekiti was adjudged as the overall best of all applicants for this year’s award.
According to it, Professor Omotola’s research proposal was unanimously adjudged as the best to win the coveted 2023 most prestigious Claude Ake Visiting Chair.