Professor Akinwale Oladotun Coker

Gbenro Adesina/Ibadan

The immediate Past Head of Department of Civil Engineering of the University of Ibadan (UI), Professor Akinwale Oladotun Coker has been appointed the Pioneer Vice-Chancellor of the Ogun State-owned Moshood Abiola University of Science and Technology, MAUSTECH, Abeokuta.

According to information obtained on UI Website, the appointment which is for a single tenure of five years is with effect from 15 April, 2019.

Congratulating the pioneer MAUSTECH VC, UI management is confident that Coker would build the new university to an enviable position.

Professor Coker was born on 11 September, 1966 to the family of Late Pa Adedapo Olujimi Coker and Late Madam Florence Olufunmilayo Coker, Nee Ajilore, of Abeokuta and Ilesha respectively. Akinwale had his Primary School Education at St. Murumba Catholic Primary School, Lagere, Ile-Ife from 1972 to 1977. He attended St. John’s Grammar School, Oke –Atan, Ile-Ife from 1977 to 1982 and passed out in flying colours. In October 1982, Akinwale gained admission to study Civil Engineering at the University of Ibadan and graduated in July 1987 with a Second Class Honours, Lower Division. He was posted to Rivers State for the National Youth Service, NYSC, and thereafter was admitted for a M.Sc. Civil Engineering Degree Programme at Obafemi Awolowo University in January 1989 and graduated in April 1991. He had a stint as a Site Engineer at Geostruct Water Resources Ltd., Lagos between 1 August and 31 October, 1991.

Professor Coker started his working career as a Lecturer Grade II in the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Ibadan on 1 November, 1991. He earned his Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering in 2002 at the Department of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering, UI. He became a Senior Lecturer in 2002 and a Professor in 2010. He is the first alumnus of the Department to attain the Professorial rank. Using a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, Professor Coker had his postdoctoral training at the Institute of Environmental Medicine and Hospital Epidemiology, University of Freiburg Hospital, Germany between February and July 2004.

He was a Visiting Scholar to the University of Wolverhampton, UK between 1 August and 30 November 2007 and a Visiting Professor between 1 March and 30 April, 2017 at the Faculty of Environment and Technology, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK. Professor Coker has been a Ph.D Research Advisor from 2012 till date at the School of Technology, University of Wolverhampton. From 2013 till date, he has been an Affiliate Professor at the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA and since 2014 till date, a Visiting Professor at the Centre for Urban and Rural Research, Alabama A&M University, Alabama, USA.

Professor Coker has concentrated his research works on Water Resources, Environmental and Biomedical Engineering. To date, he has successfully supervised 9 Ph.D. Theses, over 50 M.Sc. and numerous B.Sc. projects. He has to his credit two registered patents, over eighty publications in peer-reviewed journals, books and refereed Conference Proceedings.

Professor Coker is a recipient of UI Senate Research Grant, UI Mission Research Grant, MacArthur Foundation Grant for Staff Development for UI Academic Staff, TETfund Conference Support Grant, as well as some international collaborative grants wherein he served/is serving as the UI Site Principal Investigator. These include: The Grant of British Council and the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, BIS, the Urban Research Nigeria Grant awarded by the Department for International Development, DFID, of the UK government, Framework Biomedical Engineering Grant awarded by the National Institutes of Health, USA and MacArthur Foundation Grant, USA awarded to Runner-up in 100 and Change Competition.

Professor Coker has served the University of Ibadan in many ways. He was Acting Head of Department of Civil Engineering, 2008 – 2010, and the current Substantive Head from 2014 till date. He is the first alumnus to serve in this capacity. He has been a member of the University Senate since 2005 till date and he represented the Faculty of Technology on the University’s Appointments and Promotions Committee between 2012 and 2014. Professor Coker has pioneered some academic endeavours within the University of Ibadan. He was instrumental to the commencement of the collaborative Masters of Construction Project Management of the University of Ibadan with the University of the West of England, Bristol in 2012. He also played a principal role in the carving out of the Department of Architecture from the Department of Civil Engineering in 2017. Furthermore, he chaired the committee on the establishment of a Master’s Degree programme in Biomedical Engineering in 2017. Professor Coker was elected in 2014 as the Representative of the University Congregation on the Senior Staff Housing Committee.

He was also elected in 2014 and re-elected in 2016 as the President of the University of Ibadan Teachers Cooperative Society. He is a member of some professional societies in Nigeria and Overseas and currently serve on the editorial boards of some local and international journals. He has also served as external examiners to more than ten universities in Nigeria and one in South Africa. Outside the University of Ibadan, he has assessed more than twenty candidates for promotion to the grades of Reader and Professor in fourteen Universities in Nigeria and two in Ghana. From 2012 till date, he has been the Director of the Nigeria Network for Awareness and Action for Environmental Health – an NGO devoted to Environmental Sustainability. He serves as Consultant for Civil and Environmental Engineering Companies.

Professor Coker was ordained as a full-fledged Pastor in 1994 in Christ Life Church. He is happily married to Dr. Morenike Coker, Nee Tanimowo, a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Pharmacy, UI. The marriage is blessed with children.