The Chairman/CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has described the award bestowed on US-based Nigerian Professor, Saheed Aderinto, as well deserved and commendable.
Aderinto, a Professor of History and African Diaspora Studies, at Florida International University, won the 2023 Dan David Prize worth $300,000, alongside eight others.
NIDCOM Head of Media, Public Relations and Protocols Unit, Abdur-Rahman Balogun, said this in a press statement in Abuja.
He said the commission’s boss in a congratulatory message to Prof. Aderinto stated the award has brought glory to not only Nigeria but to the entire African continent.
The NIDCOM boss said the academic excellence of Prof. Aderinto was worth of emulation by all, especially with teeming Nigeria young academics in the Diaspora.
The spokesperson said while commending the university don on the excellent performance, Dabiri-Erewa noted that NIDCOM and the entire country was proud of his achievement and encouraged him not to rest on his oars.
The Dan David Prize, a major international award that recognises and supports outstanding contributions to the study of history and other disciplines that shed light on the human past, is considered the largest history prize in the world.
The 2023 winners of the Prize described as “the new MacArthur-style ‘genius grant’ for history,” were announced on February 28, and each would receive $300,000 in recognition of their achievements and support for their future work.
Selection is by nomination and the awards ceremony will hold in Israel in May.
Blueprint reports that the selection committee praised Aderinto’s work “for situating African history at the cutting edge of diverse literatures in the history of sexuality, non-humans, and violence, noting that it is exceptional to see a single person leading scholarship in all of these fields.”
The Professor of History, who was born in Ibadan in 1979, received his Bachelor’s in History from the University of Ibadan in 2004 and his Ph.D. from the University of Texas, Austin in 2010.
In the same year, he started his teaching career at Western Carolina University where he became a full Professor of History in 2021.
He later moved to Florida International University in 2022.
He has published eight books, 37 journal articles and book chapters, 41 encyclopedia articles, and 21 book reviews.
His recent book ‘Animality and Colonial Subjecthood in Africa’ examines the role of animals in Nigerian history.
He is also presently writing a book and making a documentary on Fuji music.
Aderinto is also the founding president of the Lagos Studies Association and a senior research fellow of the French Institute for Research in Africa.