Afrikan Heroes

The President of one of America’s top ivy league university and one of the world’s top 10 universities,  Peter Salovey of Yale University has arrived Nigeria to deliver on the promise of the Yale Africa Initiative, a long-term university-wide commitment to enhance Yale’s ongoing bilateral engagement with African institutions and to bring African scholarship, research, and education at Yale into sharper focus.

While in Nigeria, President Salovey will participate with the university’s collaborators in meetings, events, tours, and other activities to build and strengthen Yale’s research and educational partnerships across the continent.

The forum is part of a flagship program established in 2015 and sponsored by Yale in partnership with Fundación Mujeres por África and Banco Santander. It aims to amplify the effectiveness and influence of women in African governments by serving as a catalyst for open dialogue and fostering mentoring relationships between one generation of African women leaders and the next.

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The forum will feature personal leadership testimonials from a panel of program alumni: Obiageli Ezekwesili (from Nigeria), Ramatoulaye Diallo (Mali), Maria Kiwanuka (Uganda), Remi Sonaiya (Nigeria), and Nana Oye Lithur (Ghana). The discussion will be moderated by Olabosipo Sawyerr-Bassey, a graduate of the Yale School of Management (Class of 2007) from Nigeria, and Stephanie Busari (journalist and editor at CNN International, based in Nigeria).

A special session of the program will focus on reaffirming the commitment to and developing leadership approaches toward the achievement of the UN sustainable development goals. The forum will conclude with remarks from Ms. Obiageli Ezekwesili (Richard von Weizsäcker Fellow, presidential candidate of Nigeria’s 2019 election, and former vice president for the World Bank’s Africa Region).

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The Lagos Business School, along with three other schools in Africa, is a member of the Global Network for Advanced Management, a network of over 30 business schools around the world launched in 2012 by Yale and other institutions. Professor Salovey’s trip includes a visit to the Lagos campus of Pan Atlantic University where he will meet with Dr. Enase Okonedo, Dean of Lagos Business School, and members of the school’s leadership team. Professor Salovey will deliver a lecture to students, faculty, and invited guests on the topic of “Emotional Intelligence and Leadership in Business.” Following his talk, Professor Salovey will participate in a question and answer session with audience members.

While in Lagos, Professor Salovey will meet with officials to finalize plans to expand the HAPPINESS Project (Health Action for Psychiatric Problems In Nigeria including Epilepsy and Substances), an ongoing Yale partnership with the government of Imo State, Nigeria. This pioneering program aims to increase access to effective, evidence-based treatments for mental and neurological disorders in underserved areas of the country, using technology and existing care infrastructure.

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The HAPPINESS project oversees the training of primary care workers in rural communities to screen for, assess, and manage these disorders in their communities. Initiated in 2018, the project is a collaboration between Yale School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry and Imo State University Teaching Hospital. It is supported by the Yale Global Mental Health Program, CBM International, and the Imo State Primary Health Care Development Agency.

Yale has three alumni clubs across Africa-in Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa. During Professor Salovey’s visit, he will be participating in a networking reception with officials and members of the Yale Club of Nigeria. The event will include Dr. Haroun Adamu (Yale College Class of ’70) and Mr. Lawrence Fubara Anga (Yale College Class of ’80), the president and vice-president, respectively, of the Yale Club of Nigeria.

Early in his trip, Professor Salovey will visit Heirs Holding, a pan-African financial services institution, where he will discuss African entrepreneurship with Mr. Tony Elumelu, chairman of Heirs Holding and the Tony Elumelu Foundation. Professor Salovey will also visit Techpoint , the largest tech media agency in Africa, where he will participate in a town hall-style meeting and interactive discussion with key leaders in the Lagos technology entrepreneurship ecosystem.

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Plans are underway for an exhibition in 2021 dedicated to the work of the twentieth-century Nigerian sculptor Bámgbóyè at the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven; it will feature a number of works on loan from the National Museum. Professor Salovey will tour the galleries of the National Museum with Mrs. Edith Ekunke (head of museums for the National Commission for Museums and Monuments), Mrs. Omotayo Adeboye (curator at the National Museum), and Mr. James Green, assistant curator of African art at the Yale University Art Gallery. The group will discuss a planned collaborative research and conservation project, in partnership with Yale’s Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, which will involve in-depth research into the works on loan along with the training of conservation staff from the National Museum both in Lagos and New Haven.The Yale Africa Initiative is a commitment announced by Professor Salovey in his inaugural remarks in 2013 to foster new directions in research on Africa and to identify new partnerships and deepen current ones, all while transforming the educational experiences and career opportunities of students at Yale and in Africa. Through the Yale Africa Initiative, Yale continues to leverage the power of partnerships and global networks across the continent to create new knowledge in science, public health, business, and other disciplines and to improve lives around the globe.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry