Stephen Ukandu (News/Features Editor)
Dr. Chidi Achebe will deliver this year’s Vice-Chancellor’s Annual Africa Day Lecture of the prestigious University of Stellenbosch, Ikengaonline can authoritatively report.
Stellenbosch University is amongst South Africa’s leading tertiary institutions based on research output, student pass rates and rated scientists.
According to the university, the lecture titled, “Intellectuals as Nation Builders,” is slated for May 31, 2022, from 4:30 pm – 6:00 pm (SAST) online and at Stellenbosch Museum, 37 Ryneveld Street, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
Stellenbosch University’s Annual Africa Day Lecture series has been hosted every May since 2018 by the Vice-Chancellor, and coordinated jointly by the Centre for the Study of the Afterlife of Violence and the Reparative Quest and the Centre for Collaboration in Africa.
The aim of the lecture series, according to the university, is “to bring distinguished scholars, scientists, writers, artists, public intellectuals, and practitioners from a range of disciplines across the globe to Stellenbosch University to lead public conversations that will expand understanding of the role of the university in these changing and troubled times.”
“Through the series, speakers open up dialogue on topics that can contribute to knowledge production within the academy, while also having some impact on public debate and influencing audiences at the broader level of civil society,” the university noted in a statement.
Dr. Chidi Achebe, a physician, received an MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health, his MD at Dartmouth Medical School and an MBA degree at Yale University’s School of Management.
He is the CEO of African Integrated Development Enterprise, an organisation dedicated to the development of the African continent focusing on healthcare, education, agriculture, and telecommunications.
His unique implementation of “medicine without borders” has been recognised with prestigious awards, including the Dartmouth College Martin Luther King Award, the John and Samuel Bard Award in Medicine and Science, to be awarded at the Bard College commencement ceremony on May 27.
Dr. Achebe hails from Ogidi in Anambra State, South-East Nigeria. He is the son of Prof. Chinua Achebe, regarded as the dominant figure of modern Africa literature.