Gbenro Adesina
The new Provost of the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan (UI), Professor Olayinka Olusola Omigbodun, today assumed office as the 12th and first female provost in the annals of the College.
Omigbodun is the first Nigerian female Professor of Psychiatry and a Consultant and Head of Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University College Hospital, Ibadan.
In a keenly contested election, she unapologetically floored her male contestant, the former Head of Department of Radiation Oncology at College of Medicine/UCH and Chairman of Medical Advisory Committee, Professor Adeniyi Adenipekun.
In the invocation ceremony at the Boardroom of the College, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Professor Abel Idowu Olayinka, described the new provost as a woman with a passion for excellence and hard work and a woman of many firsts, who would bring into her new position, the distinction of being the first female Professor of Psychiatry in Nigeria.
He said, “I imagine that Prof Olayinka Omigbodun must have spent at least the last four years in preparing for this position that she is assuming effectively from today as the Provost. She contested the post four years ago but she was unable to garner enough votes to see here through. I remember running into her soon after that her failed bid to be Provost. She asked me why I did not sympathise with her for the electoral loss she suffered. I merely uttered some incomprehensible murmurs in the form of an apology. As we say quite often, God’s time is the best. Consequently, we are very happy that her own time has now come and we celebrate with her and her family on the occasion of this invocation ceremony”.
Olayinka explained, “Two institutions are reputed, by their nature, to be among the most conservative in the world, for which reason they have survived over the ages. These are the Church and the University. As a result, we at the University of Ibadan subscribe to keeping our much-cherished tradition. I remember a discussion I had with a colleague, the immediate past Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana. He said to me that during his tenure some staff of his University requested him to install/ approve a redesign of ‘The Great Hall’ in order to accommodate air conditioning units. He retorted that he was not ready to change the tradition of Legon since all the Vice-Chancellors before him had maintained that same culture. At Ibadan, headship of the various academic such as Provosts, Deans, Directors and Heads of Departments change hands on 1st August. Unfortunately, it has been almost impossible to keep this tradition this year on account of the national strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which started on 9th March 2020, first as a two-week warning strike and from 23rd March 2020 till date as a total, indefinite and comprehensive strike”.
“I have had numerous occasions to explain to whoever cares to listen that I am not interested in who becomes the Provost, Dean, Director or Head of Department, except that of the Department of Geology, where I have a say. There are enough rules and guidelines in our books to take care of the process of appointing a new helmsman. Anything to the contrary would be arbitrary and make the Vice-Chancellor a monster by hand-picking colleagues, which is not a sustainable model in our very liberal environment. We thank God for divine wisdom and the inner strength which have made it possible for the new Provost College of Medicine, Dean of Basic Medical Sciences, Dean of Clinical Sciences, Dean of Public Health and Dean of Dentistry (in the College of Medicine), as well as the Dean of the Social Sciences, Dean of Law and Dean of Economics and Management Sciences to resume two days ago, although today is their first working day. The past four months have been to me extremely traumatic, in trying to think of ways of getting round the problem and ensuring a smooth transition. Nonetheless, we are delighted that about 70 of our colleagues have either been freshly appointed or re-appointed”, he added.
At the ceremony were: Prof Akinyinka Omigbodun, the provost’s husband, the Rev’d Canon A. A. Adebayo, Vicar of the Anglican Church of the Messiah and his amiable wife, UI DVC Administration and Academic, Professor Kayode Adebowale and Prof Adebola Ekanola respectively, Chief Medical Director of the University College Hospital, Professor Jesse Otegbayo, The Dean of Basic Medical Sciences, Prof S. B. Olaleye, Dean of Clinical Sciences, Professor Mayowa Owolabi, Dean of Public Health, Prof G.R.E.E. Ana, new Dean of Dentistry, Prof Juliana Taiwo, Chaplain, Christ’s Chapel, University College Hospital, Ibadan, and Pioneer Director of the Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases, UI,, the Rev’d Canon Professor S. I. Omokhodion, Professor Adetowun Ogunsheye, President, Ibadan College of Medicine Alumni Association (ICOMAA) Worldwide, and Head of Physiotherapy, Professor Fatai Adeniyi and Emeritus President of ICOMAA Worldwide and Chairman of UI Ventures Ltd, Dr Abib Olamitoye.
