Dr Akin-Otiko (IADS), Dr Olokodana-James (Department of Creative Arts), Dr. Falako (Department of Religious Studies), Dr. Nweke, (Department of Creative Arts) and Dr. Onovoh (Department of Modern Foreign Languages, Morehouse College, Atlanta) have won a grant of $50,000 from the Nagel Institute of Calvin University. This is with a generous support from the Templeton Religion Trust, under the project “Engaging African Realities: Integrating Social Science within African Theology.”

The award is to fund a project entitled: Nollywood and Evangelical Films: Exploring Nigerian Cinema in relation to African Traditional Histories, Values and Spirituality.

The grant commenced on the 1^st of July 2021 and will run till the 30^th of May, 2023.

Ongoing TETFUND Research Projects are:-

1.Engaging Social Media in Remodelling Character through Arts and Culture. Prof. Ayo Yusuff and his team will employ arts and culture in remodelling the character of digital citizens through the engagement of social media.There is need to infuse the time-tested social values and pass them to the youths as a value reprogramming strategy. Rather than query and condemn the nature of the content of the social media, it is imperative to create alternative content that will influence character formation. Therefore,the research envisages social re-engineering targeting the consumption practices and media adopted by the youths.

2.Beyond the Art: Understanding inter ethnic relations and national integration through scarification and body marks. Dr. Peter Oni and his team will enquire how scarification and body marks can move beyond its current notation of identity and serve as an enabler of social stability and nation building.

The University of Lagos Central Research Committee (CRC) is sponsoring two (2) research projects on African Studies related topics.

Ifa and Popular Culture in Nigeria and Benin Republic: A research that interrogates the distinction between what Ifa is and what the popular culture portrays it as; ultimately highlighting the significance of the indigenous knowledge for African Governance.

Lagos African Cluster Centre (LACC) is one of four (4) African Cluster Centres of the Africa Multiple, Centre of Excellence at the University of Bayreuth, Germany which benefits from an ongoing 7-year infrastructural as well as research grants for projects and initiatives aimed at re-configuring African Studies.