Prof. Elias Olukorede Wahab
Professor of Sociology, Lagos State University
Member, PollsAfrica Expert Network for Nigeria
Professor of Sociology, Lagos State University · Lagos, Nigeria
Areas of expertise
- Demography and population studies
- Ageing and older persons
- Health-seeking behaviour
- Social statistics and research methods
Research focus
Prof. Wahab works on the demography of ageing. His doctoral supervision covers the health-seeking behaviour of older people, old age security and poverty, social support and mental health in later life, and how older people use traditional medicine and respond to vaccination. He has also supervised work on older women and cultural practices, and on health outcomes for women of reproductive age.
He teaches social gerontology, social statistics and research methods, and is a member of national and international population bodies. His training includes work with census and survey microdata and monitoring and evaluation research, the same skills used to check how a survey is designed, sampled and read.
Selected experience
- Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Lagos State University
- Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, Lagos State University
- Head of the Department of Sociology, Lagos State University
- Directing Staff, National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Jos
- Visiting Scholar, Oxford Institute of Population Ageing, University of Oxford (2023)
Education
- PhD, Sociology (demography and population studies), University of Ibadan
- MSc, Sociology, University of Ibadan
- LLB, Law, Lagos State University
- BSc, Sociology, Lagos State University
Selected training
- IPUMS: free-use census and survey microdata
- Qualitative demography
- Monitoring and evaluation research
- Information, education and communication materials for population programmes
Professional memberships
- International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP)
- Union for African Population Studies (UAPS)
- Population Association of Nigeria
- Population Association of America
- Nigerian Anthropological and Sociological Association
- International Sociological Association
How Prof. Wahab strengthens PollsAfrica studies
On a PollsAfrica study, a key expert is a named person who answers for the work, not a name on a list. Prof. Wahab does three things on the studies we offer him.
Ageing and population surveys
He reviews whether questions about older people, health and household circumstances are worded and sequenced in a way respondents in Nigeria will read the way we intend, and whether the sample can reach older adults.
Household surveys
He checks the instrument for local meaning before fieldwork, flags terms that do not translate, and advises on the ethics approval a study needs.
Social statistics
He reads the weighting, the margins of error and the draft findings, and signs off the results before we publish or hand them to a client.
He reviews the instrument for local meaning, guides ethics approval and signs off the findings, so you get results a Nigerian reader and a funder can both trust.
Back to all advisors and experts. This profile is published with the expert’s permission. He is a member of our expert network, not a member of staff.