He was a popular Disk Jockey on campus back in the early 1980s. Young Olabode Popoola was there at various campus events, dishing out music at social functions. According to him, “I had great fun. I loved music and I had a fair share of girls too.” But it was not all play. He diligently combined play with academic work and left the University Of Ibadan with good grades. He became a Professor at 30 and is now the Vice Chancellor of Osun State University. In this interview with PAUL UKPABIO and JUMOKE OWOOLA, he speaks about the lifestyle that took him to the top of the ivory tower.
Tell us about your journey to the office of the Vice Chancellor of Osun State University.
I started out as a graduate assistant at the University of Ibadan. I completed my Ph.D at the age of 30. I took up an appointment at the same university and that was where I was until I came here in November last year. I rose to become a professor within 10 years of starting my academic career. I have been a professor now for about 15 years. I have had the privilege of holding every academic position you can imagine in the university system. I have been a graduate coordinator, a post graduate coordinator in a department, Sub-Dean in a department, Sub-Dean at the Faculty level, Sub-Dean at the Post graduate school level, head of department, Dean of the Post Graduate School, and I have been director of an International Centre. Now I am here as the Vice Chancellor of this university.
What made you to merit the position of VC?
The criteria for becoming a Vice Chancellor is quite well known. In the case of this institution, the advertisement was very clear. You must be a professor of 10 years standing. You must be a reputable professor who is known globally. You must be a professor who has won grants, a notable researcher and an academician who has held administrative positions. I guess they found me to merit this, as there was an application process, a shortlisting process, a thorough interview process, and I came first out of 13 people. So that was how I found myself here.
You had worked in a federal university and now you are in a state-owned university. Can you compare both in contemporary Nigeria?
I am happy the way you put the question, especially the mention of contemporary Nigeria. That implies the notion of people about what universities are and what the universities themselves think of themselves. That also implies what have the universities, whether federal, state, private or public, have to offer. My notion for years now is that I do not draw a line between them all. And I also do not draw a line between a federal, state and a foreign university. A university should be a university. That is the origin of the word itself. It means universality.
A university is what you make of it: the caliber of people working there, the leadership, the quality of research being conducted and the image of the institution. So, you have state universities which have better image than federal universities. And that is why in ranking now, Covenant University, which is a private university, is ahead of several federal universities. So it depends on what you make out of the university. But perhaps in terms of comfort, state universities are closer to the people, from my experience. And they interface in the way things are managed. That is not so likely in federal universities because the Visitor is hundreds of kilometres away. So also, the Minister of Education is hundreds of kilometres away.
But in the case of state universities, everyone is living in the same village so to say. However, I want to say that this university is exceptional in the sense that there is very little interface between this university and the government in the running of this campus.
Yours is an off-campus system. How are you managing that?
Well, the founding parents of this university had their reasons for making it a multi-campus institution. The objective, the way I understand it, is that the university should be close to the people. That is why we have six campuses in the six geo-political zones of the state, bringing education close to the people. In other words, bringing civilization close to each zone, because university is about civilization. It is about modernity. So the objective is very good. Maybe the challenge is about how to manage such multiple campuses. That is where the challenge really is. You find out that commuting between them all could be very challenging economically. Of course, in terms of man hour, so much time is spent commuting. There is also the issue of coordinating, which is not easy to do. It is very promising. The objectives are good. But managing it is a different issue entirely.
Do you have issues with that?
A lot of issues! Each of the campuses is like a university, and one person is superintending six campuses. Whether you like it or not, you have to have different characters in the different campuses. How do you put them all together to ensure that it makes sense? This is the context where it is challenging. So what I have tried to do is to create a directorate which is responsible for coordinating those campuses and also liaising with the public. We call it Directorate of Inter Campus and Public Affairs. There is a Director designate, so not everything comes directly to the VC.
What about funding for a state university like yours? Is it a challenge?
There is a very heavy challenge. A university of any kind is not a tea party. It is serious business. We always make the mistake of thinking that the university is just a place for admitting students, teaching and awarding degrees. Universities are supposed to be places where characters are moulded, where serious research that will impact society is conducted. It is supposed to be where public policy is formed. But in a situation where the resources barely pay salaries, it means that you have left out about 2/3 of other activities undone.
But that is the situation in some universities right now; not just the state-owned universities. We just manage to pay salaries. And at the end of it, we cannot talk of ground breaking research. The table that we have here is an imported table. It is research that has made it possible to get such quality and product. About 20 years ago, you couldn’t conduct interviews with midgets and electronic gadgets. You probably had to write it down. So, that is what research does. And many of such researches are done in the universities. So it is quite challenging managing a state-owned university. You are only able to do a fraction of what you are supposed to be doing. Gradually though, when you have good leadership, it makes all the difference. What I am telling my colleagues here is that we have to write grant-winning proposals. If we can work out something that can bring in $100m grant, we would be in good business.
As a child did you have dreams that one day you would seat at the top of an ivory tower like this?
Maybe. Right from my primary school, the only thing I had hoped to be was a professor. So, that also helped me because I never stopped school for a day except when I went for national service. But not all professors can be vice chancellors, hence I don’t think I thought about being a vice chancellor. But I have always wanted to be a professor.
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Inisan, a small town in Osun State. In those days in the 60s, every primary school in the South West was the same. No school was different from the other. You could have some of the best schools in a village. But in my case, after primary school, I left for Ibadan for secondary school, and after that, I attended the University of Ibadan.
Who influenced your educational direction most between mum and dad?
I really don’t know. All I remember is that I was usually top of the class. Many of my classmates are today not surprised that I ended up being a teacher in the university. I had parents who wanted me to go to school. Although I don’t know where that came from, I know that I didn’t want to do any other thing but to teach. Even after school when I had colleagues looking for jobs, I never thought about it. After the national youth service, I taught briefly at a College of Agriculture, but it wasn’t because I wanted the job. I was just waiting for my admission letter to come. I just wanted to keep going to school. I thank God, maybe it has paid off.
What childhood memories would you readily recall?
I recall the kind of love that pervaded the environment then. Today, I see some of my friends with whom I grew up. Then, nobody asked what your religion was. We ate from the same pot. We played around. At Christmas time, it was everybody celebrating, and at Sallah time, it was everybody celebrating. So when I compare it with the kind of suspicion that has been played up today, I am baffled. Today, even among those with whom I grew up, there is suspicion, which was not there before. Then, there was no class segregation. I come from Inisan but got admission into a secondary school in Ibadan. I didn’t have to know anybody. I sat for an exam and passed. Those are the things that I remember, and they make me sad. And I ask myself, how did we get it wrong? But I had fun as a child. Then as an undergraduate, I had great fun. I was a disc jockey. I played very hard.
How did you combine being a disc jockey with studies?
Well, you can combine anything together once you have a focus. I enjoyed attending parties and later became a disc jockey. I used to sing, but I also had discipline. I never drank or smoked.
But the girls on campus love hovering around such guys…
(Laughs) Oh yes, I had a fair share of that. That was part of campus life. But it didn’t disturb studies because it was about planning. One aspect shouldn’t disturb the other. I didn’t go out with the girls 24 hours. I planned my time. I had fun.
Again, I wonder how these things happen. In secondary school, I was the best all round student in arts, in science and in sports. I have a certificate in Karate but I never for once imagined I would be a medical doctor. The only course I wanted to do was Agriculture. That was my first choice, and we were the first set of JAMB students even though I went on to do A-levels for whatever reasons. I studied Agriculture and specialised in Forest Resources Management.
How do you see the future of this university?
This university is 10 years old. The first five years of this university was quite stable, everything was working well. There was a mass of academia coming from different universities together. Everybody wanted to work. But in the last five years, it has been critical for the university. You have been reading the newspapers. It has been one bad news after the other. But then the prospects are still there. I am here trying to redirect, trying to rebuild the communities, the team spirit and the can-do spirit. So I am very hopeful that this university will be able to live up to the dream of the founding fathers. That is because the resources are there.
One other thing you should also know is that in this business, we trail each other. When someone is somewhere and people know that they can work with him or her, they trail the person to the place. So, in the last few months that I have been here, amazingly, a number of people have come to relate with us either on visiting appointment or just wanting to work with us. I can name more than 12 world class professors who have come to work with us or relating with us to ensure that the university is working the way it should. So I believe the prospects are still there.
Do you still love music?
Yes, I still do.
What kind of music do you listen to these days?
All kinds of music including local music like sakara and apala. Of course, I am a fan of King Sunny Ade. I love his brand of Juju music. I love soul music. Afro music, Funk, and Jazz send me to sleep, though we do not have it as much any longer. I recall Glover Washington and the other Jazz masters.
What kind of social life do you keep these days?
I have attended a lot of parties to last me a lifestyle. Some people may think I’m anti-social, but then I ask, what is there that I haven’t seen?
How did you meet your wife?
We met at the University of Ibadan. We started out as friends and kept at it. There were other girls, but I was with her more than with other girls. She became a friend that I did too many things with unconsciously. And then I started realising that God must have designed it that way. So we became parents and then grandparents, because we now have a grandchild.
Is she in the academia too?
Oh yes, she found herself there (laughs). She is an associate professor. Actually, I don’t know whether it is right or wrong. The truth is that I would love it most that my children are also in the education business or sector of the economy.
So, are they taking after you?
I guess so. My first child is doing her Ph. D now. She did her master’s degree abroad. I don’t think she is going to do any other thing than lecturing. The second one is in the UK. He got a job after his master’s degree, but I know that he is thinking of a Ph. D. The others are also thinking along the same line. Maybe they like the fact that daddy is not a rich man but he enjoys what he is doing. It could also be natural.
Where I hail from, they say Owu iya gbon ni omo ran. In other words, it is what the mother dropped that the child picks up and continues with. So if you are living in an environment where when people talk about money you talk about book, everywhere around you are books, then you cannot but be focused on books. But also in all manner of modesty, I must confess that the academia has brought me unimaginable fame and good reputation. We go somewhere and people say, ‘Oh, that’s your dad!’ Perhaps that has also encouraged them to want to be in the academia.
What other hobbies have you kept over the years?
I did long distance running. I was a high jumper and I did play good soccer. As a matter of fact, if soccer was as lucrative then as it is now, maybe, it would have diverted my attention. That is because I played soccer at all the school levels. I was in the university football team as well. And in those days of IICC, I was training with some of the clubs. But after a while, I didn’t have time to do all that. These days, I do my normal exercise. I walk around. I still play soccer, but on a very light note.
Like you mentioned earlier, it has been one crisis after another. What is the situation in the recent face-off between the police and the students of your university?
That was an unfortunate incident. But that could have happened at other places. But thank God that the students survived. Crisis in different ways has been happening, but it’s just that it took a frightening dimension. One of the problems we have here is that we are non-residential. So the students live outside without protection. No policeman would have walked into the campus to shoot students while they were playing soccer. But we thank God that we were able to mobilise quickly and God assisted. The boys are living their normal lives again. And gladly also, the leadership of the police took immediate steps and I hear that the errant policemen are being prosecuted.
