The Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) will on 5 January 2026 host a public symposium in Lagos to mark the 80th birthday of Biodun Jeyifo, a renowned scholar and Professor Emeritus at Cornell and Harvard universities.
The event, scheduled to hold at the AGIP Recital Hall of the MUSON Centre, Onikan, will bring together academics, journalists, writers and cultural critics to reflect on Professor Jeyifo’s intellectual legacy amid renewed global debates on decolonisation.
According to the organisers, the symposium, themed “Who Is Afraid of Decolonisation?”, will examine Professor Jeyifo’s long-standing contributions to curriculum reform, cultural resistance and critical scholarship, while interrogating the relevance of decolonial thought in contemporary education, politics and public discourse.
The keynote lecture will be delivered by Priya Gopal, Professor of Post-Colonial Studies at the University of Cambridge. Her paper is titled “Who’s Afraid of Decolonisation? Reflections on Particular Pasts and Planetary Futures.”
The programme will be chaired by Yemi Ogunbiyi, chairman of Tanus Books, Lagos, and will feature two panel discussions. The first panel, which will respond critically to the keynote lecture, will include Jibrin Ibrahim, professor of political science and chairman of the editorial board of Premium Times; Chidi Amuta, chairman of Wilson & Weizman Associates; and Akin Adesokan, professor of comparative literature at Indiana University, Bloomington. The session will be moderated by Ropo Sekoni, immediate past chair of WSCIJ.
A second panel, titled “Pedagogy for Liberation: Then and Now,” will focus on Professor Jeyifo’s influence as a teacher and mentor. Panellists include Bisi Anyadike, proprietress of Sunshine Nursery and Primary School, Ile-Ife; Kunle Ajibade, co-founder of TheNEWS and PM NEWS; and Ogaga Ifowodo, a poet and lawyer. Chima Anyadike, professor of English at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, will moderate the session.
A major highlight of the symposium will be remarks by Professor Jeyifo himself, reflecting on curriculum, society and revolutionary thought across generations.
WSCIJ said the event is open to the public and will conclude with audience interactions and networking, as participants reflect on Professor Jeyifo’s enduring impact on African scholarship, critical pedagogy and public intellectual life.
