Kwara varsity lecturer wins N5.6m Rufford Foundation Grant

A lecturer in the Department of Zoology, Kwara State University (KWASU), Dr Segun Oladipo, has won the Rufford Foundation Grant of £6,000 (about N5.6 million).

The KWASU spokesperson, Dr Sa’eedat Aliyu, in a statement issued on Tuesday, said the notice of the grant was addressed to the university and signed by the Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation, Stuart Paterson.

Aliyu stated the grant is in support of a project to intensify conservation actions for the protection of red list threatened stingrays in Nigerian lagoons, especially in Lagos.

Commenting on the award, the Acting Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Shaykh Jimoh, congratulated the lecturer on winning the grant.

Jimoh, who expressed the importance of extending expertise to the conservation of non-human nature, said ensuring survival of other non-human biotic constituents of nature was needed for humans to thrive.

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He charged the award recipient to redouble his efforts in the execution of the project, urging him to continue to bring greater laurels and recognition to the institution.

Oladipo holds first, second, and third degrees in Zoology from the universities of Ilorin and Ibadan.

He has won many international grants on wildlife biology and conservation from the National Geographic Society, Rufford Foundation, Save Our Seas, PADI common grants, among others.

He is currently working on the “Diversity, Distribution and Community-based Conservation of the Marine fish Communities in Nigerian Lagos Lagoon using eDNA.”

He is also using the National Geographic Society Grant and “Intensifying conservation actions for the protection of Red List Threatened stingrays in Nigerian Lagos Lagoon” through a second Rufford Foundation grant.

The Star