The University of Lagos (UNILAG), through its Office of Global Engagement and Strategic Partnerships (OGESP), on Monday, August 24, 2026, hosted a send-off ceremony to mark the completion of the six-month GreenSTEM Intra-Africa Horizontal Mobility Programme by Mr. Senakpon Tcheton of the Global Change Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.
Held at the OGESP Board Room, the ceremony brought together GreenSTEM scholars, supervisors, and staff, alongside participants who joined virtually from Nigeria and abroad. The event was described by organisers as a significant milestone in African higher education collaboration.
Tcheton, the pioneer scholar of the GreenSTEM Intra-Africa Horizontal Mobility Programme, completed his six-month fellowship at the Department of Zoology, UNILAG.
A First for Horizontal Mobility
In her welcome address, the Director of OGESP, Prof. Abimbola Sowemimo, described the occasion as a moment of joy and a reflection of the impact of the GreenSTEM mobility programme.
She applauded Mr. Tcheton for the knowledge and experience gained during his fellowship and acknowledged the contributions of the GreenSTEM Project Lead, Prof. Ismail Ibraheem, and his supervisor, Dr. Temitope Sogbanmu.
In his goodwill message, Prof. Ibraheem described the ceremony as historic, noting that European Union-funded academic mobility programmes had traditionally focused largely on vertical exchanges between Europe and Africa.
He commended GreenSTEM for promoting horizontal academic mobility among African countries and praised Tcheton for choosing Nigeria as his destination despite concerns that prospective visitors may have about safety.
According to him, first-hand experience can challenge perceptions and create a more transformative outlook. He encouraged Mr. Tcheton to serve as an ambassador for the programme and expressed the hope that students and staff from the University of the Witwatersrand, another GreenSTEM partner that participated virtually, would also have the opportunity to visit UNILAG.
Prof. Ibraheem further noted that a central objective of the programme is to deepen collaboration between exchange scholars and their supervisors, with participants expected to develop research proposals based on their experiences during the mobility period.
He expressed optimism that sustained collaboration with African institutions would contribute to strengthening UNILAG’s position among leading universities in Africa and improving its visibility in global university rankings.
Mangroves, Migration and Method
The ceremony provided a platform for Mr. Tcheton to make a presentation on his six months programme in Nigeria, which ran from February to August 2026.
The programme formed part of a broader project focused on food security, climate change and biodiversity loss. In addition to completing his PhD thesis, he conducted field research on the ecological role of mangrove forests in Lagos State.
According to Tcheton, Epe was initially selected as the study site. However, a preliminary visit revealed sparse mangrove vegetation and limited community involvement in conservation activities. He subsequently moved the research to Akodo-Ise, where he found healthier mangrove forests and stronger grassroots conservation efforts.
Following consultations and consent from traditional leaders, he conducted in-depth interviews with 50 residents using snowball sampling. His findings indicated that the mangrove roots in Akodo-Ise serve as fish nurseries that are central to local livelihoods, giving residents a direct economic interest in protecting the ecosystem.
Based on the findings, Tcheton recommended that Lagos State’s conservation policies move beyond predominantly top-down approaches and embrace community-led stewardship models already emerging in settlements such as Akodo-Ise.
The presentation was followed by a question-and-answer session, which generated further insights for researchers and policymakers working in coastal communities.
Tcheton urged researchers to regard residents as active partners rather than merely sources of data. He also encouraged researchers to return to study communities after completing their work to share findings in accessible formats and, where appropriate, in local languages.
Collaboration in Action
Responding to the presentation, Dr. Temitope Sogbanmu noted that Tcheton’s work reflected the collaboration, cooperation and trust-building that characterised his training experience.
She explained that his fieldwork built on foundational research conducted by another researcher in the Epe community, as well as the practical experience of UNILAG’s MSc students.
On behalf of the Department of Zoology, Dr. Sogbanmu expressed appreciation to OGESP and the wider GreenSTEM team for the opportunity to supervise Tcheton, while expressing hope that UNILAG students would similarly benefit from mobility opportunities at partner institutions across Africa.
The GreenSTEM Intra-Africa Academic Mobility Programme seeks to contribute to the development of a Higher Education Research and Innovation (HERI) space at continental scale by strengthening national capacities and cultivating a pool of internationally minded, multicultural young talent equipped to address Africa’s societal challenges.
Report: Lynda Onah
Photographs: Michael Joshua
