Afam is a professor and head of Food Science and Technology at the University of Venda, Thohoyandou in South Africa. He obtained his PhD from the University of Leeds, United Kingdom in 1994. He became an associate professor (1996) and a full professor (1999). In 2005 he was a member of the Nigerian University Commission (NUC) Comprehensive Accreditation Panel that evaluated Engineering B discipline in three Nigerian Universities and in 2006 was invited as a member of NUC Committee to Review Postgraduate Syllabus in Nigerian Universities. He became the Director of Research and Development at the National Food Technology Research Centre (NFTRC) Botswana. This position enabled him to mentor scientists at NFTRC, revitalise research activities leading to increase in research output, number of researchers having doctoral degree, motivated and received a doubling of the Centre’s recurrent budget. While in Botswana he briefly chaired the Food Legislation and Advisory Committee of the National (Botswana) Food Control Board and attended 2008 Geneva Codex Alimentarius Commission as part of Botswana delegation.
Professor Jideani has supervised and mentored a number of postgraduate students three of whom are now professors in Food Science and Technology. He is established and recognized for his research on cereal science especially on the grains of Digitaria species (acha and iburu). His research has brought these two African cereal grains to the international scene. Other areas of his food research include fermentation, processing, preservation and value-addition of African plant foods. He is currently a National Research Foundation C-rated researcher in South Africa and has 120 publications to his credit in scientific journals, book and book chapters. He has made presentations in many national and international scientific meetings. He has received many research grants and fellowship awards including the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) and Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in United Kingdom.
To stay in tune with developments in his field of Food Science and Technology, he is a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology (NIFST), the coordinator of NIFST (in Diaspora), professional member of the following scientific bodies: (i) South African Association of Food Technologists (SAAFoST), (ii) American Association of Cereal Chemists International (AACCI), (iii) Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) and (iv) the ISEKI Food Association (IFA). In 2010 he became the South African country representative of IFA. He is married to Victoria and both have three sons.