Humanities In The Spotlight As Awhefeada Mounts DELSU Podium
Scholar Returns to Shape Literary Discourse
DELTA State University (DELSU), Abraka, will host its 117th Inaugural Lecture on Thursday 15 January 2026, delivered by the Dean of the Postgraduate School, Prof. Sunny Ijirhevwe Awhefeada. The lecture will take place at the 750A Lecture Theatre, Site III, by 11:00am, with guests expected to be seated by 10:30am.
A respected voice in African literary studies, Awhefeada has built a reputation that stretches beyond academia into cultural criticism and journalism, using both platforms to interrogate Nigeria’s literary evolution and defend the relevance of the humanities in public discourse. His upcoming lecture is anticipated not just as an academic ritual, but as a state-of-the-nation literary audit, particularly focused on the intellectual output of subnational identities.
Tracing the Literature of a State
Titled “The Literature of Our State: An Evolutionary Engagement with Modern Nigerian Literature,” the lecture will examine how Nigerian writing has been shaped by geography, politics, memory, and identity — and how state-level narratives feed into the national literary bloodstream. The theme positions Delta literature as both a case study and a mirror for understanding the broader Nigerian canon.
The event will be chaired by the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Samuel Ogheneovo Asagba, reinforcing the university’s long-standing tradition of pairing institutional leadership with intellectual advocacy during inaugural discourses.
A Lineage of Literary Heavyweights
Awhefeada becomes the fifth academic from the Department of English and Literary Studies to mount the inaugural podium, joining a prestigious succession that includes Professors Simeon Umukoro, Godini Darah, Mabel Osakwe, and Macaulay Mowarin. His lecture also marks the fifth from his department, but the first to explicitly foreground the literature of a state as an analytical lens rather than just Nigerian literature as a monolith.
An alumnus of University of Ibadan (BA, MA) and University of Benin (PhD), his academic formation reflects a blend of Nigeria’s most influential literary schools, strengthening expectations that his lecture will combine Ibadan’s critical rigour with Benin’s cultural intellectualism.
More Than Ceremony, a Cultural Intervention
Observers within the humanities community see the lecture as part of a larger intellectual pushback against the ongoing marginalisation of humanities funding and policy influence in Nigeria. DELSU’s inaugural platform, in this case, becomes a symbolic arena for reclaiming literary authority and cultural relevance.
Guests have been advised to take their seats by 10:30am, as organisers expect high attendance from literary scholars, journalists, cultural institutions, and DELSU alumni networks.
