What is your background before becoming a teacher-researcher and the Head of African studies at Ibadan University?

I am a graduate of Political science with speciality in Gender and Political Economy from the department of Political Science, University of Ibadan. My doctoral thesis ‘Gender and Public Office-Holders’ Perception of Political Recruitment in Oyo State, Nigeria’ provided the basis for more research on gender related issues in the society which I have been expanding over the years.  I am now a senior researcher with a goal to conduct transformative researches that unravel the deep rooted causes of inequality against women and men in the society. This will help correct the discriminatory practices against women and transform contemporary gender discourse

I have been involved in a number of researches as a research assistant before starting my career in academics in different Universities, first, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago – Iwoye, Lead City University, Ibadan   and joined the University of Ibadan in 2012 where I teach in and coordinate the Gender Studies Programme in the Institute of African Studies. I have also held a number of administrative positions which include Postgraduate Coordinator/ Examination officer, Sub dean and most recently Director of the Institute since 1 August, 2022 to date.

What main questions are you currently addressing?

Women in most African societies have in diverse ways over the years collectively mobilised themselves to have their voices heard on salient issues that affect them, their families or communities at large. They have also collectively played significant roles in the resistance of the increasing discriminatory practices, these have been well researched into, however, minimal work have attended to their contributions to the legislation of laws on issues concerning them.

This research therefore addresses Women’s activism and their legislative achievements.  The focus of the research is to interrogate women movement activities and or contributions towards the enactment of section 17 of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The research in addition seeks to find out if women activists mobilised for this section to be introduced in the constitution? If so who were these activists. Was there a gap between the mobilizations and the legislations of the aforementioned section? If there were no mobilisations, why and how did this section come into force?. The questions raised will be answered by consulting Nigerian Press collections, relevant journal articles and other printed and electronic documents 

Where does this interest in your research come from?

As a political scientists, I have over the years picked interest on issues around Gender and Political economy. The interest from this research stems from the dearth in scholarly work on women movement activities on the achievements on the legislation of issues concerning women. In addition to this, working with Drs Sara Panata and Marieme N’daiye also helped sharpened my line of thought on this research

What are your motivations for choosing LAM?

My decision to apply for a research stay at  Sciences Po Bordeaux University – Les Afriques dans le Monde (LAM)  is driven by my desire for an academically conducive environment to devote time for the research with other scholars on Gender, Laws and Activism in West Africa.

My interest in gender issues have not waned since my early days in graduate school. For example, for my doctoral, I worked on women representation, an area of research in political science and gender studies which has continued to generate important debate on the status of women in Nigeria. I have also collaboratively worked with other local and international researchers on women’s life and living in the academia and agriculture among many other areas.

My position as, first, the pioneer coordinator of the Gender Studies programme of the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, has provided important opportunity to teach, research and supervise gender topics in diverse areas of human endeavour. 

It is important for me to interact with scholars and specialist of Political science, history and law to strengthen my knowledge on the subject especially being a comparative study. Importantly, this opportunity will provide the opportunity to make use of academic resources at LAM, such as high impact journal article which are not available to me in my home university.

Sciences Po Bordeaux University – Les Afriques dans le Monde (LAM) is reputed for its impressive environment and the capacity to attract multidisciplinary team of  and researchers scholars  from different parts of the world, a factor that I am so excited about. I am also certain that the expertise which I have built over the years could open new areas of conversation of women and gender studies in Africa. This mobility will avail me the opportunity to learn from other researches which will further sharpen the focus of the research idea. In addition I will have access to numerous academic works, Nigerian press collection and online resources available at the Science Po Bordeaux library.

Upon the completion of the research stay, I intend to further strengthen the academic link between my institution and Sciences Po Bordeaux University – Les Afriques dans le Monde (LAM).