By Bala Dauda, Damaturu
Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe has congratulated Professor Mahmoud Bukar Maina, a renowned neuroscientist, for winning the Vivensa Academy Rising Star Excellence Award in the United Kingdom.
Our correspondent reports that the award was presented to Maina by the Vivensa Foundation for advancing innovative work to improve health, aging and supporting the development of ideas that can make a difference in people’s lives.
Buni, in a statement by his Director-General Press and Media Affairs, Alhaji Mamman Mohammed in Damaturu, said Maina’s exploits in research and innovation had made the state proud.
“Prof. Maina is doing us proud and placing Yobe State on the global map of science and research.
“The Yobe State Government will continue to support him and all other Yobeans to achieve their full potential in their respective fields of endeavour,” he assured.
Professor Maina, the first black recipient of the award, is Buni’s Special Adviser on Science and Innovation as well as the founder and Director of Biomedical Research and Training Centre (BioRTC) at the Yobe state university, Damaturu.
He is currently leading a dementia research cohort at the centre and developing context-specific approaches with new research works in the UK.
In 2025, he led a team of international scientists in a cutting edge research to unravel the cause of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) in Gashua, Jakusko and other communities along the Yobe River.
The neuroscientist was also a recipient of the Transmitter Rising Star Award in 2025, a global recognition supported by the Simons Foundation (USA), highlighting emerging leaders in neuroscience.
He is the first Nigerian and second African to gain membership into the prestigious European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO).