Nigerian Academic Bags British Academy’s Global Professorship

A Nigerian academic, Prof. Abubakar Sule Sani, has been listed among eight new Global Professors awarded by the British Academy.

Sani was a lecturer and former Head of Department (HoD) of Archaeology and Heritage Studies at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria.

He was also a deputy director at Arewa House, a Think-tank and Centre for Historical Documentation and Research, and currently the Vice President of International Council for Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS-Nigeria) and President, Archaeological Association of Nigeria (AAN).

Our correspondent reports that before he bagging the global professorship at the British Academy, he is the deputy director at the Institute for Development Research and Training of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

Speaking with LEADERSHIP on the feat, Professor Sani said, “My vision for this Global Professorship is an innovative programme of research that will invigorate academic collaborations between the UK and Nigeria/West Africa and become a model for future engagement based on trust, co-production of knowledge and intellectual integrity.

“I am to achieve this by combining archaeology, museum practice and stakeholder engagement to study large and under-researched collections from key Nigerian sites, drawing on archaeological, ethnographic and archival data held in British and Nigerian museums.

“This research will bring new understandings of African history, and of UK/Nigerian research histories, through academic outputs, online resources, exhibitions and outreach in the UK and Nigeria.”

The scholar added that building on his experience as a field archaeologist, educator and collections researcher, and deploying extensive networks, will make his research to have a transformative impacts at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK, where he would conduct some research works while helping to remedy the current post-colonial issues concerning the role and value of museum collections.