AN ENCOUNTER WITH AJAYI CROWTHER UNIVERSITY’S VC
Shortly after our conversations on phone in which Ajayi Crowther University’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Timothy Adebayo Abiodun strongly indicated his desire to have me around him for one year on sabbatical, I made the first trip to the University’s campus to assess the situation and see my new boss for the first time. My encounter with the VC was as enchanting as it was humorous.
Every clue, begging for interpretation indicated that I would be working with yet another vibrant, highly intelligent and eloquent scholar whose passion for the development of his university is as powerful as it is infectious. Prof. Abiodun who attended Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife between 1983 and 1988 for his Bachelor degree in Agriculture, Master degree in 1992 in the same University, bagged Doctorate in 2003 from Ladoke Akintola University, Ogbomoso specializing in Entomology, the study of insects and their relationships to humans, the environment and other organisms.
Prof. Abiodun who is today a Professor of Entomology/Insecticide Toxicology was the Deputy Vice Chancellor of Ladoke Akintola University before his current appointment as the Vice Chancellor of Ajayi Crowther University. He is from Esa Oke in Osun state. He will be 60 years old by next December.
From my observations, Prof. Abiodun is a perfect-picture of geniality and civility. He is a man sired in the true tenets of African virtues and values. He has a good sense of humour belied by his often stern visage. From what I have noticed, this Ajayi Crowther VC, like some others that I had been privileged to work with in the University of Ibadan (UI), is quiet, but not silent, tenacious without being overbearing, accommodating, but not permissive. He is firm but fair. He doesn’t want any student to pollute the symmetry of academic flow of the university.
For instance, while welcoming me in his office, security men on campus came in with two erring students who were caught in misconduct (possessing some contraband items). Prof. Abiodun, upon proper investigation, immediately called the parents of the concerned students to alert them that the university has suspended their children with immediate effect, based on incontrovertible evidence. He urged the parents to arrange for the home-coming of their children.
Fast forward to my first day on duty, while we were on routine assessment and inspection of some projects on campus, Prof. Abiodun, who saw some students loitering around their hostel, accosted them and demanded to know why they did not go to classes. I was shocked, wondering why he was treating them like secondary school students! After all, they have academic freedom, more so, they are mature. He explained that unlike public universities, “Ajayi Crowther is a university where we pay close attention to our students because of our mission and vision. Some of our students have been over-pampered at home and it is our duty to monitor them and instill discipline” A student even came to tell him that he was broke and the VC should give him money! Interestingly, Prof. Abiodun obliged the request. I laughed.
Clearly, his steady strides are impacting lives and building legacies. I wish to state with unmistakable exactitude that I have got yet another dynamic, pragmatic and principled Principal to work with. I must confess that I have been enjoying every moment of my working with him. I like his courage and admire his carriage. With humility, decency and sense of statesmanship, Prof. Abiodun is charting a future rich in promises and possibilities for the university.
So far, what I have found most interesting about him is his humility and his unpretentiousness. At every opportunity, he regales us with his poor background. He shares his experiences in the village while farming. He disagrees with many successful men who were born and bred in town, still claiming to have suffered. He asserts that real abject poverty is in the village where people are hopeless and helpless in the face of grinding and excruciating poverty.
Hear him, “I remember when I was going on National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Maiduguri and I needed only Two Hundred Naira for transportation. One of my uncles had promised me. He said I should come the following day. In excitement, I went to his house and assisted him in washing his car. Upon getting to his house to get the transport fares the following morning, I was told he had gone much earlier. I wept bitterly. My father had to go a-borrowing before I could go. See me today. See what God has done with my life. Even if God is no longer doing anything for me, I shall forever be grateful for what He has done so far”
Indeed, you will want to work with this kind of an inspirational leader like Prof. Abiodun. He has endured so much pains and poverty in life to be able to overcome the straitened provenance, thus, becoming a luscious star. I am so privileged to have been poached by this unassuming scholar of note whose wife is also a Professor in the same field.
