In another call to national service, the Committee of Provosts in Nigeria has unanimously elected the Provost, Emmanuel Alayande College of Education, Oyo, Dr. Rasak Adetunji Adefabi as its National Secretary.
The election was held today at the meeting of the Committee of Provosts held at the Headquarters of the NCCE ) in Abuja.
In a press release made available by Wale Adeoye, Special Assistant on Media Matters to the Provost, Dr. Rasak Adetunji Adefabi, the new National Secretary, an erudite scholar with first class honours degree in Economics was born on June 7, 1963 at Ayedun House Koso, Iseyin, in Iseyin Local Government of Oyo State. He had his childhood education at L. A. Primary School, Oke-Esa, Iseyin between (1971-1976), and Anwar-Ul-Islam High School, Iseyin (1976-1981). He proceeded to Olivet Baptist High School, Oyo for the HSC Advanced Level between (1982-1984) and attended Obafemi Awolowo University where he obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Education Economics B.Sc with First Class Honours in 1988. He later attended the University of Ibadan, Ibadan for his Masters degree between 1992-1993 and obtained Doctor of Philosophy in Economics from the same University between 2007. His Ph.D dissertation was based on Foreign Direct Investment, Human Capital Accumulation and Economic Growth in Sub-Saharan African.” He is a fellow of the African Research Consortium, Nairobi, Kenya.
Dr. R. A. Adefabi started his career on January 1, 1990 with the then St. Andrews College of Education, Oyo (now Emmanuel Alayande College of Education, Oyo) as an Administrative Officer II. In response to an internal advertisement, he was later appointed Lecturer III Cadre in the Economics Department thus welcoming him to the academics. He then rose through the ranks to the position of the Chief Lecturer.
The Iseyin-born technocrat has to his credit, a number of academic distinctions and Awards such as First Class Honours, B.Sc. (Ed) Economics, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife (1988), Ph.D Scholarship Award, African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) Nairobi, Kenya (2003), Ph.D Grant Award (AERC) Nairobi Kenya (2004), College Research and Publication Committee Award for School of Arts and Social Science on Successful Defence of a Research Proposal on Domestic Supply and Consumption of Electricity in Oyo State (June 4, 2003). He is also an awardee of Ph.D Education Trust Fund (ETF) Research Grant, Federal Government (FGN) 2004, and one of the Year 2000 Outstanding Intellectuals of 21st Century of the International Biographical Centre (IBC) Cambridge, England and Fellow Institute of Chartered Administration of Nigeria August 2013, Fellow Institute of Chartered Economist and a Justice of the Peace of Oyo State, Nigeria and very recently on June 23, 2021 he was awarded the Fellow of the Better Nigeria in Practice at the organisation 13th annual conference held at Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti, Ondo State.
Adefabi is an astute administrator. He is equally a versatile academic and member of many professional associations. He had served the college, Oyo State and Nigeria in various historic capacities including but not limited to the Chairman of College appointment and promotion committees, Staff Representative on Governing Council, Deputy Principal of College campus in Lanlate, TETFund Desk Officer, Acting Dean, School of Arts and Social Sciences, Vice Chairman of COEASU. He had also proved his mettle as external assessor to numerous colleges of Education in Nigeria as a chief Lecturer. He was Editor-in-Chief for the Pace-setter Journal Emmanuel Alayande College of Education, Oyo as well as College Representative on Inter-World Journal of Educational, Social and Economic Studies between 2011 till 2014. In year 2017, he earned the Ethic Ambassador Award of the Centre for Ethics and Self Value Orientative as a corrupt free Chief Executive. He became a Justice of the Peace (JP) of Oyo State on the gracious approval of the former Oyo State Governor, His Excellency, Senator Isiaq Abiola Ajimobi on 17 August, 2017.
The new National Secretary of the Committee of Provosts is a visiting lecturer to Adeleke University, Ede in Associate Professor capacity for the Department of Economics as well as in the capacity as Senior Lecturer, Economics to Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo where he has served meritoriously on sabbatical appointment. He has creditably served the country in very many useful capacities as Chief Moderator in Economics to JAMB, Accreditors to NCCE and Consultants to Oyo State SUBEB. He is a fellow of Institute of Economist of Nigeria (FIEN) and the Institute of Corporate Administration of Nigeria (FCIA), he has forty-three (43) articles, six (6) chapter in books, ten (10) books to his credit in reputable out lets. Dr. Adefabi is the Chairman, NASFAT, Oyo branch.
Since Dr. Adefabi’s assumption of office as the EACOED Provost on 16 May, 2014, he has been working tirelessly in the area of human capacity building, empowerment and development. His administration, as a matter of great importance funded numerous workshops, trainings, seminars and conferences for staff and students both within and outside the shore of the country. Among the giant strides recorded by his administration include:
i. The attainment of full accreditation status by the College for all its academic programmes across the six schools by the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) and National Universities Commission (NUC) for the College Degree programmes in affiliation with Ekiti State University (EKSU).
ii. Establishment of a state-of-the-art Computer Systems Centre with full access to the Internet
iii. Change in the names of Schools to reflect NCCE standard
iv. As at 2019 NCCE evaluation, Emmanuel Alayande College of Education, Oyo is rated 8th among Colleges of Education in the Federation, 2nd among State Colleges of Education and 1st in the South-West.
v. Establishment of the College Academic Planning Department in line with NCCE directive
vi. Construction of modern edifice learning structures which copiously addressed the Covid-19 challenges
vii. Establishment of the College Legal Unit
viii. Establishment of the Department of Theatre Arts
ix. Establishment of the School of Early Childhood and Primary Education
x. It is on record that his tenure as Provost witnessed the establishment of the following solid revenue generating ventures:
(a) Table Water Production Business
(b) Functional Bakery
(c) Agricultural Venture
(d) EACOED Nursery and Primary School
xi. Sponsorship of numerous Academic and Non-Teaching Staff to Conferences and Workshops
xii. Mr. Saheed Agboluaje, a regular degree student won an International Award of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry 2019 competition held in Paris with dollar rewards.
xiii. A full integration of the School of Vocational and Technical Education the mother campus in Erelu, Oyo through a seemingly painless movement of both students and staff while providing for infrastructural needs.
xiv. Diplomatic management of labour unions and attending to their requests towards moving the College forward.
Not only these, his administration as a jinx breaker at a time granted conversion of statuses to many staffers of the College thereby bringing relief and succor to them occasioned by many years of stagnation on the same level. In addition, worried by attendant psychological trauma of prolonged casualization of staff, over thirty (30) Sandwich staffers had their appointments upgraded to a permanent one, thus successfully bringing them to the mainstream of the College. This was carried out without undue publicity and devoid of advocacy nor show of praises.
Dr. Adefabi, a man of vision and mission is happily married and blessed with upwardly mobile children.
Receiving the news, the College Ag. Registrar, Mrs. Olubunmi S. Asunmo described the election of her boss as another blessing to not only Emmanuel Alayande College of Education, Oyo but to the Nigeria education sector. According to her, “the election of my boss is a good development to the College. It is having a right peg in a right hole. I am highly happy that the nation’s education sector will tap from his wealth of experience. May God journey with him in the new assignment”, she stated.
