Prof. Mahfouz Adedimeji

Vice Chancellor of Ahman Patigi, Nigeria
Aptly described by the Independent newspaper as “a man of many parts”, Prof. Mahfouz A. Adedimeji is a Fulbright scholar, interdisciplinary researcher, university don, public affairs analyst, communication consultant, peace advocate, interfaith worker and public intellectual. He obtained his academic degrees from the University of Ilorin, Ilorin, where he was a Professor of English (Pragmatics and Applied Linguistics) before his appointment as Vice Chancellor as the pioneer Vice Chancellor of Ahman Patigi, Nigeria, in February 2021. He started his academic career in 2000 at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, shortly after which he joined the services of his alma mater, the University of Ilorin. A man of eclectic academic background, Prof. Adedimeji was educated in Arabic and Islamic Studies at Markaz Shabaabil Islam, Iwo, Osun State and Markaz Ta’aleemil Araby, Agege, Lagos. He obtained advanced training in Education, Political Science, Communication and Media, Research and Peace Studies at the National Universities Commission’s (NUC) Virtual Institute for Higher Education Pedagogy (VIHEP); the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO) Virtual Institute for Higher Education in Africa (VIHEAF); Governors State University, University Park, Illinois, USA; University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana; and Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, Notre Dame University, South Bend, Indiana, USA. Apart from serving as a cultural ambassador to the US under the auspices of the Institute of International Education (IIE), New York, Prof. Adedimeji had won or co-won the research and conference awards/grants of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) of the National Research Council, Nigeria, the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) and the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU). He has written extensively for a wide range of newspapers and periodicals including “Unilorin Bulletin”, “Unilorin Watch”, “DeLight”, “National Pilot”, “Daily Independent”, “Daily Newswatch”, “New York Parrot” and “New Telegraph”, among others. A versatile academic and award-winning scholar, Prof. Adedimeji has attended academic conferences and undertaken research in several universities across Nigeria as well as in Ghana, Cameroon, Kenya, Malaysia, Sierra Leone, Australia, France and United States of America, among others. His hundreds of academic, Islamic and general/opinion articles have been published across outlets in Nigeria and beyond. He has also facilitated and participated in seminars and workshops both nationally and internationally. A former Head of the Directorate of Corporate Affairs of the University of Ilorin, Prof. Adedimeji was the Director of the Centre for Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies, University of Ilorin, between 2013 and 2017. Apart from serving as Rapporteur-General to the Presidential Committee that organised the 2017 Federal Executive Council’s Retreat on Education in Nigeria, he has consulted for the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Nigeria Inter-religious Council (NIREC), the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence and Corps (NSCDC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). For years, he was a Coordinator and Facilitator of the Executive Management Course of the Nigerian Army Education Corps (NAEC) and Editor-in-Chief of the “Journal of Peace, Security and Development”, University of Ilorin. He has also served as a resource person to agencies like the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), National Orientation Agency (NOA), National Institute for Security Studies as well as a number of Civil Society Organisations. He is a recipient of several awards and honours including those of the International Chartered World Learned Society, American Biographical Institute, National Congress of Nigerian Students (NACONS), Union of Campus Journalists, University of Ilorin, the Nigerian Army Education Corps, Postgraduate Students Association, UNILORIN, Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN), UNILORIN, Students’ Union, UNILORIN, and National Association of Osun State Students (NAOSS), just to mention a few. A Fellow of bodies like the International Association of Research Scholars and Administrators (FIARSA), Institute of Corporate Administration, Nigeria, (FICAN), Society for Peace Studies and Practice (fspsp) and World Institute for Peace (FWIP) , Prof. Adedimeji is a former Member of the Governing Council of the International Peace Research Association (IPRA) and until recently a Member of the Executive Council of the English Scholars’ Association of Nigeria (ESAN). He is a member of the Editorial Boards of Research in Pragmatics, journal of the Pragmatics Association of Nigeria (PrAN) and ANUJAT, an international multidisciplinary journal of the All Nations University, Koforidua, Ghana. He has about 15 books to his credit as author, co-author, editor and co-editor.

Happy ending, beautiful beginning

On January 23, 2015, this column featured the story of the pregnant deer with a happy ending. In the article, “2015: The pregnant deer parable”, I contested the apocalyptic prediction of the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, ...

Nigeria’s step, South Africa’s slap

Everyone is truly angry with the South Africans on their xenophobic attacks on fellow Africans. While many governments and people condemned in unequivocal terms the unsavory development, others evacuated their citizens or relocated their loved ones to keep them from ...

Jonathan or Buhari, forward or straightforward?

In less than 24 hours, the much-anticipated D-Day will come and Nigerians will have a choice to make between two Titans, the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party and the opposition presidential hopeful, General Muhammadu Buhari of ...

One year of Chibok tears and two other things

This Tuesday, the world marked a whole year since the abduction of the 219 Chibok girls from their school dormitory by the terrorist Boko Haram group. It was the fateful night of April 14, 2014 that our collective psyche was ...

If you Orubebe me, I will Jega you

The keenly-contested last presidential election has come and gone but the thrills and frills of it would continue to endure for some time to come. Chief among them was the creative propensity and imaginative fecundity of Nigerians, which made the ...

Sack as sure as SURE-P

One of the characteristics of Dr Goodluck Jonathan’s presidency is its sheer predictability. As a prominent citizen of this country once told me, one could correctly guess or predict its moves, a quality that is not exactly exacting. The pattern ...

Metuh goes to school

The novella, “Akin goes to school”, by Christie Ajayi and Michael Crowder, was well read by Nigerian pupils in the 70’s and 80’s. A staple book of a sort in those days, it is about the story of a young ...

Integrity is it!

If there is anything that sustains a leader and makes followers, without any inducement, to stand by him, integrity is it! If there is a core requirement that followers want to see in their leaders, integrity is it! If hard ...

Honesty is the best legacy

The eighth letter of the word leadership is “H” and it stands for honesty. Honesty is the quality of being truthful, sincere and upright in speech and action; it is a major means through which one can inspire and motivate ...

To lead is to serve; to serve is to sacrifice

One of the most profound quotes I got from the boxing legend, Muhammad Ali, is the one he gave in 1978 in a Time magazine interview. According to him, “Service to others is the rent you pay for your room ...

Leadership is responsibility

The sixth letter of the word leadership is “R” and for our purpose, it stands for responsibility. If leadership is anything fundamentally, it is about responsibility. To lead is an opportunity but every opportunity carries with a commensurate responsibility. So ...

Leading is by example

The fifth letter of the word leadership is “E” and it signifies example. It is said that example is better than precept and this is why example lies in the heart of leadership. People are more interested in what a ...