Nigeria’s Professor Olusola Bandele Oyewole has been appointed the Secretary General of the Association of African Universities.
His appointment takes effect from October 1, 2021.
The announcement was made by the outgoing president of the AAU Governing Board, Professor Antonio Orlando Quilambo (Rector of Eduardo Mondlane University, Mozambique).
His appointment followed a highly competitive recruitment process.
Oyewole is to take over the running of the 54-year-old association.
He will replace Professor Etienne Ehouan Ehile, an Ivorian higher education leader, who has led the association for the past nine years.
Professor Olusola Bandele Oyewole is a Nigerian Professor of Food Science and Technology, specifically Food Microbiology and Biotechnology.
He is not new to the association because he had been its staff member in the past, as well as its board member and president.
He is a former Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria and had also worked as a Senior Expert in Higher Education for the African Union Commission in Ethiopia.
Professor Oyewole’s work experiences at the national, regional and continental levels have endowed him with a wealth of knowledge in coordinating multinational research and development programmes.
He, therefore, comes to the AAU fully equipped for the job ahead of him.
In his acceptance remarks on Monday, during the virtual extra-ordinary general conference organised by the association, Oyewole paid tribute to the out-going Secretary General, Professor Etienne Ehouan Ehile, saying that he was aware that he had “big shoes to fill.”
He recognized Prof Ehile’s sterling work that saw the association increasing its visibility, decentralising its functions through regional offices, diversifying the capacity building initiatives, identifying new partners, nurturing the relationship with the government of Ghana and continuing the advocacy to various stakeholders to support higher education in Africa.
Professor Oyewole thanked the AAU Governing Board for the opportunity given to him to serve the association.
“My vision is to amplify the relevance of the Association of African Universities as the Voice of Higher Education in Africa,” said Professor Oyewole.
He revealed that during his term of office, his top focus areas will include identifying and implementing strategies for sustaining the association during and post the COVID-19 era and helping African universities to overcome the challenges of COVID19.
Oyewole said that he deemed the strategic collaborations and dialogues with development partners and other stakeholders as key for the successful future of the association.
“Without strong partnerships and collaborations, the association would be unable to achieve her grand mission of improving the quality of African Higher Education. Through honest, sincere, visionary, committed, transparent and disciplined leadership, I intend to build new strategic partnerships and revive old partnerships for the sustainability of the Association,” he added.
Through vibrant platforms for learning and knowledge exchange, Professor Olusola Bandele Oyewole envisions the building of the next generation of academics in Africa, stronger intellectual engagement and the full engagement of AAU member universities – and African Universities in general.
