"Afro-Studs" is 40 years old

The Institute of African Studies of the University of Ghana, Legon, on Tuesday launched its 40th anniversary with a call on organisations and philanthropists to support them to complete its new office building.

Dr Irene Korkoi Odotei, Director of the Institute, said they had committed about 340,000 dollars into the project being supported by the Danish Government through the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA).

"We would need additional 280,000 dollars to complete the structure and we are appealing to the public to support us either in cash or in kind," she said. The Institute was established as a semi-autonomous body of the University to promote the studies of African heritage.

There would be a conference of chiefs from different parts of Africa in September to climax the anniversary activities. There would also be an evaluative conference of African studies programmes on the continent to set the agenda for African Studies in the new millennium.

Prof. Ivan Addae-Mensah, Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, in a speech read for him, said the very establishment of the Institute at the time was a strong statement of intellectual and cultural independence.

"The Institute remains a strong reminder that an African University must retrieve the intellectual heritage of the continent and ensure that it asserts itself as an authority on Africa."

Prof. Addae-Mensah, who is also the chairman of the Advisory Board of the Institute, said for the next 10 years, the institute had a great task to prove its relevance and sustenance. This, he said, could be achieved through building staff capacity, reviewing of courses and disseminating its findings to a wider audience.