Nigeria: Prof Awosika re-elected as Chair of UN Scientific Panel

Nigeria’s Prof. Lawrence Folajimi Awosika, has been re-elected for a five-year term as Chairman of the United Nation’s Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS).

The 68 year-old Nigerian from Ondo State polled 154 out of 157 votes to emerge Chair of the prestigious 21-person UN scientific body and will chair the panel till 2022.

CLCS is the UN body that decides what portions of the seabed can be exclusively mined for natural resources such as oil, precious metals and minerals.

Awosika, first elected into the Commission in 1997 as a member and was elected chairman in 2012.
Fielding candidates for CLCS requires the country’s permanent mission to the UN, hence Nigeria’s Permanent Mission
mobilised support for Awosika.

Awosika’s resounding victory to lead the Commission for a five-year term is a boost for Nigeria and Africa.
Membership of the commission allows Nigeria to gauge the scientific strength of claims by countries to parts of the seabed that, like territorial waters, that are often hard to demarcate.

Awosika’s re-election was not without a challenge as Ghana made initial frantic efforts to contest the seat with Nigeria by fielding a candidate until African Union waded in; making Ghana to withdraw its candidature and Awosika was returned unopposed.

He was born on 27 July 1949 in Ondo and attended Aquinas College Akure Ondo State Nigeria 1964-1968, where he made a Grade One in the West African School Certificate.

He holds a BSc in Geology from Howard University Washington DC., USA; MSc Geology with specialty in geophysics from George Washington University Washington DC., USA and PhD in Applied Geophysics from Obafemi Awolowo University Ile
Ife.

Awosika was a one-time Director and Head, Marine Geology, Geophysics Department of the Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research.