Draft:Adagbonyin Asomwan Sonnie

Asomwan Sonnie Adagbonyin, born on April 30, 1961, is a Nigerian professor and Acting Vice Chancellor of Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma.

Asomwan Sonnie Adagbonyin is a Professor of English at the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State, Nigeria. His research interest, apart from Stylistics, which is his area of specialisation, includes ESL, discourse analysis, pragmatics, sociolinguistics, syntax, semantics/semiotics, African literature and creative writing.

Professor Adagbonyin published and authored his first book of stories, The Singing Ashes (Evans Brothers, Nigeria) when he was 18. In 1992, he edited the first major anthology of Nigerian short stories, Frontiers (Kraft Books Ltd.).

A freelance journalist, broadcaster, speech writer, columnist, commentator on public affairs, playwright, short story writer and poet, Professor Adagbonyin is listed in Who Is Who in Nigeria, a publication of the Nigerian International Biographical Centre, 2003. He is a gifted public speaker and orator, and a recipient of several honours.

He has been on the editorial advisory board of many academic and literary journals at home and abroad. He was Vice-Chairman of the Edo-Delta States Chapter of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), the umbrella body for Nigerian writers founded by Chinua Achebe, the world-acclaimed novelist, between 1992 and 1993, and the General Secretary of the Edo-Delta States Chapter of the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO), a foremost human rights movement in Nigeria, from 1993 to 1994.

Professor Adagbonyin had his educational career at the Universities of Benin and Nigeria, where he obtained the B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees, all in English. He is a member of the Nigeria Academy of Letters (NAL), Modern Languages Association of Nigeria (MLAN), the Linguistic Association of Nigeria (LAN), the Poetics and Linguistics Association (PALA) (UK), Association of Contemporary African Linguistics (ACAL) and the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), among other professional bodies. He was a two-time Director of General Studies, two-term Dean, School of Postgraduate Studies and a Director of Academic Planning in the University. As a Professor, he is a permanent member of the University’s Senate, whose representative he was in the University’s Governing Council where he was Chairman of the Strategic Plan Committee, the Endowment Fund Committee, the Scholarship Committee, among other responsibilities.

Professor Adagbonyin is blessed with a lovely wife and children.

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