The Senate Members of the University of Ibadan (UI), today elected Professor Peter Olamakinde Olapegba, the pioneer Director of the University Alumni Office as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Admin), for two years.
Olapegba, a member of the University’s Governing Council and former Dean of the Faculty of The Social Sciences, clenched the position with 260 votes against 16 votes his opponent, Professor Olusiji Ipingbemi, the Dean of the Faculty of Environmental Science managed to poll.
Olapegba’s success at the poll is usual as he is the sole and preferred candidate of the school management for the job, as Ipingbemi was only nominated for democratic aesthetic.
Following this development, Olapegba has become an individual to watch out for in the institution’s next VC contest which will be held in 2026. If he decides to run for the exalted office of the 14th vice chancellor of the nation’s Premier University, he will be slugging it out with about three scribes of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), UI branch and others including aspirants from the College of Medicine, a force that cannot be undermined. He has to also prepare to battle a Professor of Sociology, Adeyinka Aderinto, a former DVC of Academic, who will be taking the second shot for the office of VC.
Olapegba and Aderinto are of the same Faculty but different departments.
After he emerged as the most senior DVC among the three DVCs the institution has, Professor Aderonke Baiyeroju, an Ophthalmologist, and Professor Oluyemisi Bamgbose (SAN), who specialises in Criminal Law and Criminology retained their positions as DVCs Academic, and Research, Innovation & Strategic Partnership (RISP) after the Senate ratified them for a second term in office.
Olapegba is a Professor of Applied Social Psychology at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
He holds a B.Sc. (Hons) degree in Psychology; M.Sc. in Social/Personality Psychology, PhD in Applied Social Psychology all from the prestigious University of Ibadan, a Diploma in Borders and Borderlands Study and a Postgraduate Diploma in Theology of the Redeemed Christian Bible College.
He worked briefly as a Research Officer with the National Examination Council (NECO), Minna, Nigeria in the year 2000 from where he joined the services of the University of Ibadan on June 1, 2000, as an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Psychology.
He was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2008, Reader in 2011, and full Professor with effect from 1 October 2014. He has over 100 publications comprising books, chapters in books, and articles in internationally reputable peer-reviewed journals.
He was a Visiting Scholar at Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungbo-Akoko (2011); a Postdoctoral Fellow at the North West University, Mafikeng, South Africa (2012); Visiting Professor at the University of Lagos (2023).
He was a recipient of the ICP/Change Fellowship Research Grant from Jacobson Foundation, Canada; the University of Ibadan Senate Research Grant and the Foci Person (Nigeria) for the Moment of Change (MOCHA) research grant project, a multi-country research coordinated by the University of Bath, United Kingdom.
Olapegba is External Examiner to the University of Lagos; University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; University of Fort Hare, South Africa; Ekiti State University, University of Lagos, and External Assessor (professorial) to several universities within and outside Nigeria.
Professor Olapegba is a Fellow of the Nigerian Psychological Association (NPA) and several professional bodies including the American Psychological Association (APA), Nigerian Psychological Association (NPA), Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP), Nigerian Association of Social Psychologists (NASP), International Association of Psychology (IAAP) and Institute for Chattered Mediators and Conciliators (ICMC).
He is currently a member of the University of Ibadan Governing Council; Precious Cornerstone University (PCU); Governance Board, Pan African University Institute of Life and Earth Sciences (PAULESI) and was a member of the Governing Council, The Ibarapa Polytechnic, Eruwa, Oyo State.
He is the Editor– in– Chief of the ASUU Journal of Social Sciences; a Member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Journal of Cultural Analysis and Social Change; the Editor of the Journal of Positive Psychology and Counselling; Member, and the Editorial Board, African Journal for the Psychological Study of Social Issues among others.
