In the middle, Professor Abel Idowu Olayinka supported by wife and daughter, Dr. Eyiwunmi and Keyede during the church service

ADESINA OLUWAGBEMIRO

Tuesday 1 December 2015, all roads led to the Chapel of Resurrection in the University of Ibadan (UI) for the inauguration and thanksgiving service of the 12th Vice Chancellor of the institution, Professor Abel Idowu Olayinka, who officially resumed today.

Among the attendees of the service were: the wife and daughter of the VC, Dr. Mrs. Eyiwunmi Olayinka and Keyede Olayinka respectively; the Minister of Health who is the immediate past vice Chancellor of the institution, Professor Isaac Adewole, represented by his wife, Dr. Bukola; Emeritus Professor Oladipo Akinkugbe; Professor Omoniyi Adewoye, former vice Chancellors of other universities including Professor Wale Omole of Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU; Professor Babatunde Adeleke of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, LAUTECH, and Deputy Vice Chancellor of Federal University of Technology, Akure, FUTA, Professor Tolulope Adebogun. Others were: principal officers and staff of the institution, clergy men from Oyo and Osun States.

Olayinka, who could not hide his emotion about those who tried to see his VC ambition nullified through many means including exploring legal procedure said: “Promotion does not come from the east, west or south but from God Almighty. The past one year has been traumatic for me as some members of staff continued to write petitions against me since I declared my intention to be the VC of this great institution. Last Sunday evening was spoilt for me as I was notified after the thanksgiving ceremony of Professor Adewole that some people were trying to file ex parte motion against me in the court. Even, up till yesterday, they were still writing petition against me. Fighting me is like fighting God and nobody can fight God. By the end of my five-year tenure, I will not be judged by the number of enemies that I made but by the number of the achievements. The work starts today. By 3pm, there will be Senate meeting.”

Professor Abel Idowu Olayinka in black suit and his family as the officiating minister prays for them

Olayinka, who had initially nursed the ambition of being a farmer like his father, stated further, “When I came in 1977, my ambition was to have BSc but one thing led to the other and today, I am who I am. But I must acknowledge that if it were to be the time that names were being sent to Abuja for the presidency to pick a name for the position of the VC, I can assure that my name would not have crossed the River Niger. So, I thank God that the unions fought for autonomy of the university and that was why the appointment of VC is now a pure university matter. And that is why I emerged as a VC because most of the members of staff love me. During the period of contest for the VC, I emerged first candidate without any manipulation. The university community elected me and I know they will stand by me in the journey. To you all, thank you and I will never disappoint you.”

Pointing out that his primary task is to drive, manage and strengthen the vision and dreams of the institution, Olayinka disclosed that the overall theme of his programme of action over the next five years is “Accelerated Development through Consolidation and Innovation”.

While his vision for the university is “to be a research-intensive institution for the transformation of Nigeria as a 21st century knowledge-driven, rapidly globalizing economy”, his mission is “To create a high performance university, with outstanding teaching and learning facilities, that is locally relevant, nationally pre-eminent and globally competitive and to produce graduates who are eminently employable, entrepreneurial and well-connected within a professionally and intellectually stimulating environment”.

According to him, “My first priority is staff, my second priority is students, my third priority is exploring ways that UI can make itself less dependent on government funding through expanding professional postgraduate programmes and Open Distance Learning, endowment revenues, donations and research grants. My fourth priority is that we shall invest heavily in physical and infrastructural facilities to address the shortage of offices for staff, classrooms and laboratories. My fifth priority is the provision of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and related teaching aids and e-learning resources that will facilitate teaching, research, community services, knowledge transfer and branding of UI as a digital institution and the sixth priority is to increase research output.”

From right, DVC Admin, Professor Emilolorun Ayelari, DVC Academic, Prof. Gbemisola Oke, and the Registrar

In his sermon, Reverend Timothy Olatunji, who described the day as historic disclosed that the new VC became a professor at 41 urging him not to abuse the grace of God and do great things during his tenure.

Olayinka, who had initially nursed the ambition of being a farmer like his father, stated further, “When I came in 1977, my ambition was to have BSc but one thing led to the other and today, I am who I am. But I must acknowledge that if it were to be the time that names were being sent to Abuja for the presidency to pick a name for the position of the VC, I can assure that my name would not have crossed the River Niger. So, I thank God that the unions fought for autonomy of the university and that was why the appointment of VC is now a pure university matter. And that is why I emerged as a VC because most of the members of staff love me. During the period of contest for the VC, I emerged first candidate without any manipulation. The university community elected me and I know they will stand by me in the journey. To you all, thank you and I will never disappoint you.”

Stressing that it has become imperative for the VC to work assiduously for the university considering the fact that very soon his tenure would come to an end, Olatunji said, “A day will come that you will become a former VC. Whatever your hands find to do, do it well. Don’t be a disappointment to God and to the university community. Don’t spend your time condemning the former VCs. Don’t write petitions against the former VCs. Don’t spend time destroying what former VCs have done. Build on good things that the previous administrations have done. You must acknowledge that there are rots in the system. I charge you to remove the rots and do the rights no matter what anybody says. Be courageous and be the Daniel of the university. Don’t allow your political associates to dictate for you; rather let them hate you for doing what is right.”

He equally charged all the members of the university to work with the new VC, more importantly those that contested with him.

Olayinka was born at Odo-Ijesa, State of Osun, Nigeria on 16th February, 1958, to the family of the late Mr Gabriel Ola and Madam Florence Mopelola Olayinka. He hails from the Ojimi lineage, Ajifodu Dynasty. He attended St. Bartholomew’s Primary School, Odo-Ijesa, from 1964 to 1969 and he was appointed the Senior Prefect in his final year. He was admitted into Ilesa Grammar School in January 1970 and completed his West African Secondary School Certificate in 1975, in Division One.

According to him, “My first priority is staff, my second priority is students, my third priority is exploring ways that UI can make itself less dependent on government funding through expanding professional postgraduate programmes and Open Distance Learning, endowment revenues, donations and research grants. My fourth priority is that we shall invest heavily in physical and infrastructural facilities to address the shortage of offices for staff, classrooms and laboratories. My fifth priority is the provision of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and related teaching aids and e-learning resources that will facilitate teaching, research, community services, knowledge transfer and branding of UI as a digital institution and the sixth priority is to increase research output.”

He was educated at the University of Ibadan between 1977 and 1981 where he bagged B.Sc. (2nd Class honours, Upper Division) in Geology and at Imperial College of Science, Technology & Medicine, University of London, United Kingdom (1983-1984) where he was awarded M.Sc. in Geophysics, and also a Diploma of Membership of Imperial College in 1984. In 1988, he got his PhD from the University of Birmingham with focus on the use of a microprocessor-controlled resistivity traversing system for borehole citing in basement areas of Nigeria.

He has been in the employment of University of Ibadan since April 20, 1988. He became senior lecturer in 1994. Five years after, he was promoted to the post of professor of Applied Geophysics on October 1, 1999 by the University Senate. About 16 years later, the University Senate announced his appointment as the 12th Vice-Chancellor of University of Ibadan.

He has served as External Examiner and External Assessor for professorial candidates in many Universities in Nigeria and at the University of Ghana, Legon, Accra. He has held visiting appointments to Covenant University, Ota; Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti; Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye and Federal University of Technology, Akure, FUTA. He has been invited as guest lecturer by many universities in Nigeria and the Institute of Geophysics, Technical University, Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany.

He has successfully supervised 66 MSc and 9 Ph.D. candidates. He has authored/co-authored 58 articles in journals, seven books, two edited books, 11 chapters in books, and 1 Monograph. He has also attended over 95 scientific conferences in and outside the country.

Prof Olayinka has had the privilege of 21 years cognate administrative experience at the University of Ibadan. These include a two-term stint as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) from December 2010 to December 2014, where he served as Chairman, Committee of Provost, Deans and Directors; Senate representative on the Governing Council from August 2007 till December 2010; Dean of the Postgraduate School from 2002 to 2006; Head, Department of Geology 2001/2002 and 2006 to 2010; Sub-Dean of the Postgraduate School 1999-2001; and Sub-Dean (Postgraduate) of the Faculty of Science, 1995-1997. He served on several occasions as the Acting Dean, Faculty of Science, during the 2009/2010 session. He was a member of the University Senate from 1994-1997 representing Congregation and has been a full member from 2000 till date. He was Chairman of the Senate Curriculum Committee from February 2007 till February 2011 and Chairman Curriculum Review Sub-Committee of the MacArthur Grant from 2009 till 2014.