Fundraiser for final year of Luqman's PhD research

Luqman is approaching the final year of his research PhD and is raising funds to complete this vitally important research, which is bringing an appreciation of the traditional Yoruba people of Nigeria’s development economic practices to our attention for the first time.

Please read below to find out more.

Why Luqman needs extra funds

As a disabled and underprivileged student, the financial burden of tuition fees, living expenses, and research costs is overwhelming. Luqman's financial limitations threaten to derail his academic journey. Up until now, as well as some grants he’s been awarded for his work and some previously crowdfunded support, Luqman has been largely funding his tuition payments from his PIP and Universal Credit, but this isn’t sustainable, as it often means making difficult choices between buying food, paying rent, or covering tuition costs. Your support would allow him to complete his research with this, the final phase of his 4 years’ work, cover essential expenses, and bring forward a much-needed African voice in global academic and policy discussions.

Luqman’s research project

Luqman's doctoral thesis examines Ifá, the Yoruba people of Nigeria's thought system, to explore the relationship between self, obligation, and society in contrast to the Western canonical tradition, which he argues is rooted in colonial and racist origins. He investigates how international development agencies and their socio-economic policies are shaped by Western norms, seeing them as colonial tools imposed on African societies without considering African thought systems. Focusing on financial inclusion under the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which harbours a colonial legacy and reproduces the Western canonical tradition, Luqman highlights how indigenous financial inclusion, such as ajo (savings groups) and esusu (rotating credit associations), which reflect mutual community obligations, have existed since pre-colonial times. Despite their success, they remain marginalised in Nigeria’s formal financial economy sector, which follows Western models like microfinance. Luqman argues that Africa’s social, economic, and political development would be transformed if Western-centric development frameworks were decolonised and opened to African thought systems and indigenous understandings of self, obligation and society.

Your contribution, no matter how small, will make a tangible difference in helping Luqman complete his PhD and empower future generations of African scholars. Please join Luqman in this journey to decolonise knowledge and uplift African thought systems.