By Emeritus Prof. Toyin Falola, one of Africa’s most decorated historians.
Since the 1970s, I have been associated with Adeyemi, Ondo, as Adeyemi College of Education and now as Adeyemi Federal University of Education. The institutional connection is one thing; the personal is yet another. A cluster of friends and mentees were there in the 1980s, and visitations were regular. Lectures, seminars, and great parties outside of campus. Asun and beer joints. How can I forget Gboyega Ajayi, Tunde Babawale, Kunle Filani, Akin Alao, Olorunleke, Don Akatakpo, and Ademola Azeez, all now “big men” and big names. Two had served as Provosts, one a director of a notable federal government agency. Ademola Dasylva was not one of us, a Pentecostal and permanently suffering from sin allergies. A lecture room was named after Dasylva for his insistence on rights and responsibilities, which grew into full-blown activism when he relocated to the University of Ibadan. Then came Professor Koya Ogen, who went from being a student at Adeyemi to becoming its provost and then to the acting Vice-Chancellor.
Twenty boys cannot play for twenty years! They all dispersed, some to the South, others to the North. A world without end! We lost Don, aka Donatus, whom we pronounced as Do-naaa-toos. If you shorten the nickname to Do-na-tus, you want to force yourself on us. Do-naaa-toos, rest in peace. I am sure you are entertaining the angels with your warmth. O’Jay, for Olorunleke, is now doing well as a Professor of Literature at Lagos State University. O’Jay, I throw a salute! Ademola Azeez, Alias Alhaji, alias Aseez, was too young to be in our company, then a student. Forever respectful and dignified, he joined our ranks. Tola Wewe, omo, one and only, known as TW, pronounced as Teewee, became a superstar, a Commissioner in Governor Mimiko’s cabinet, a handsome man, to borrow a phrase from Orlando Owoh. Teewee’s paintings crossed the Atlantic, celebrated in a book by his bohemian friend, Professor Moyo Okediji, titled Metamodern Vision of Tola Wewe. The ever-gentle Professor Akin Alao, popularly known as Akinse, is preeminently successful. Babawal, also Babawee, is Professor Tunde Babawale, a major political force in the country today. Gboyeee (with three e!) or Olugboye never left Ondo, ultimately becoming our permanent landlord. Our leader in all areas, height, stature, gait, and eminence, is none other than Dr. Filani, Babacool, the miracle man who somersaulted from a beer parlor to a Pentecostal Church. God is faithful. Like me, Venerable Babacool continues to see double visions as both spaces deliver spirits, as Saint Janet as reminded us in her illicit song. I am just TF; when I show my cosmic side, I become Iwin!
We played. No kalokalo, no Baba ‘Jebu, No Fela, but Sayo: joy and happiness before they blow the trumpet! Let me delay the fascinating points of our comrades’ lives till another day. Today, it is about Adeyemi as an intellectual center.
Tell me a nation that has strived beyond its intellectual capacity and reservoirs. Since immemorial, states, kingdoms, and systems have often fathomed ways to protect, preserve, and transmit knowledge for a general symphony of social conceptualization. After all, that’s what makes the “society,” the distinct character of a people, identifiably different from the rest of the world. Those who say knowledge is power have not said so from the wanton bosom of striving to sound wise; it is a reality that only the wise can see or even make people see. To forgo knowledge is to leave oneself at risk of uncertainty, and the destruction that follows, no matter the form, will be self-destruction.
The colonialists knew this, so they did not just create educational institutions, no matter how few. Still, they tried to control them to guide the narratives and enlightenment of the Nigerian minds. In the wake of independence, the government saw this truth about knowledge and education and saw it fit to establish or encourage educational institutions. The government tried to take charge of running the major colonial institutions and those based at the close of colonialism in the country. University of Ibadan, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Yaba College of Technology, and others started running gradually on the fuel of new Nigeria and indigenous ideas.
Acceptably, knowledge is as essential as the desire for the continued existence of a society, but control and a proper educational system are as important as knowledge itself. Information is the lifeblood of any society, and disinformation is an infection that goes to the bloodstream and the whole nervous system. It could be terminal if not controlled. This was why post-colonial nationalists’ endeavors shifted mainly to the structure of education that existed back then. The curriculum, methodologies, and conceptualization started seeing a change. You will then agree that the best way to control what knowledge is disseminated is to control who disseminates the same.
This was one of the founding principles of the Adeyemi Federal University of Education when it was established as the Adeyemi College of Education in 1964. The institution was mandated to create the proper pedagogical structure and curriculum sophistication. It had the duty of building fine men and women who would lay the educational foundation of Nigeria at the inception of republican political environments—upholding the values and educational ideologies of Canon M. C. Adeyemi, who was a foremost educationalist in Nigerian history and a hero of the Africanized education system.
Preliminary education, both primary and secondary, sets Nigerians on the path of self-discovery and instills the spirit of communal responsibility. The curriculum and pedagogy bring them closer to the nation than they separate them. Through over 60 years of holding the hands of the country in teaching the young. As a teacher, I am in the best position to tell you that the seeds teachers sow in the minds of children and young ones at an early age transform into their personalities and perspectives about life. The existence of Adeyemi Federal University of Education as a college at that time meant that the Nigerian leaders could go to rest believing that there was a fundamental orientation of teachers who were charged with building the nation’s future.
Adeyemi has trained thousands of teachers, educationists, and experts for over 60 years. These individuals later led the evolution of the Nigerian educational system, built the structure, and built the brilliant minds responsible for the nation’s position as the giant of Africa. So, we became giants of the continent, not by size alone but by the ingenious intellectual prowess we mustered.
While it might be true that Adeyemi is not solely responsible for the educational transformation of the nation or the building of teachers who have brought us thus far, its curriculum and capitalization on contemporary and efficient pedagogy have set the pace for many years. When it was a college, a National Certificate in Education or a degree program as an affiliate of the Obafemi Awolowo University was instrumental in helping Nigeria build some enviable educational standards.
Adeyemi boasts a reputation for thorough teaching styles and an educational system that has attracted recognition from those who hold its certificate anywhere in the world. It was a force to reckon with in the Nigerian educational system. Hence, this charge was carried by the institution’s students- they understood that merit was not just a necessity but the lens through which the institution itself saw Nigeria grow.
To draw us back to Adeyemi’s relevance in building the Nation’s educational system, it was one of the few institutions that championed a need-based educational system and specialized curriculum to meet the needs of special people. Educational technology, Early Childhood Education, Special Education, and Adult Education curriculum projects by Adeyemi became important in revolutionizing of the foundational educational systems in Nigeria.
Adeyemi and its management believe that teachers are not supposed just to be taught subjects and approaches to teaching subjects; they will be teaching pupils and students, but that there is a need for special consideration of the nuances of education. Persons and children with special needs, children at their early educational stages, and adults whose minds have been distracted by real-life realities are special considerations in pedagogy, and it must be approached with the appropriate system. Over the years, the institution has invested in this special consideration, and graduates from the institution are thought leaders and experts in Nigeria and Africa. Thanks to institutions like Adeyemi Federal University of Education, a viable curriculum expands to people with learning disabilities, special persons, and adults. These considerations are backed by the diverse academic programs run by the university. They appropriately cover approaches to tackling complex subjects and courses for ease of knowledge transmission.
To keep up with the mandates inherited from its inception in 1964, Adeyemi has been committed to research that brings educational and pedagogical innovation to the Nigerian educational system. The bright minds in the institution and the students have expanded research and conducted experiments that have helped the efficiency of Nigerian pedagogical strategies across all academic levels.
Experience has always been the backbone of teaching, from which teachers draw references, instances, examples, and strategies to maneuver unsuspected nuances in teaching. Adeyemi Federal University runs a unique Student Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) with remarkable parameters that put their students amid knowledge and help them apply it to their studies, translating to a comfortable and confident teaching approach when they get to academics.
The upgrading of the College to a full-fledged university was long overdue, judging from the value of research, innovations, and the brilliance that follows those who have passed through the citadel. It allows the institution to realize its anticipations by expanding its curriculum and upgrading its courses to operate thoroughly.
I have established that knowledge is the foundation of any sane society, and ensuring healthy and intentional dissemination is just as important. But I must say that seeing Adeyemi Federal University of Education as one of the testaments of these commitments by its contribution to the country, it is essential to ensure that it is made to run at its full capacity. The institution’s growth, which has warranted its transformation, has shown its strength, and the fortified administrative system sustains its development. Unfortunately, it took that long, but it was better late than never.
The government, stakeholders, alumni, and society must ensure that our support gives these visions life. We must highlight the nation’s fundamental knowledge narratives by enabling the university to lead the country’s pedagogical, academic, and educational trajectory. Adeyemi Federal University of Education is essential to narrating the African heritage and history; it is crucial to impacting fundamental values in the lives of those who will be taught. It is vital for a secure, intelligent, and socially cohesive Nigeria.
Professor Samuel Akintunde, the Acting Vice-Chancellor, the crown fits your head. Your foundation work will forever be remembered. Both you and the University have a reputation, and may we not have a successor who will tarnish the good work. Congratulations on the 35th Convocation Ceremony in May 2025.
