Elated by the feat of a former Executive Secretary of the Nigerian University Commission (NUC), Professor Peter Okebukola, who clocks 70 today and also retires from the civil service as a lecturer, the Chairman of Executive Group and Board Member, Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF), Dr Ayo Ogunsan, has extolled the university don, describing him as a genius par academic excellence.
Ogunsan, who held no caution in heaping praises on the popular academic, rolled out some of the achievements of Okebukola in the university system of the country.
“It is with all pleasure I join forces with the rest all around the globe, thus declaring that Professor Peter Akinola Okebukola, OFR, has had a fantastically successful career, over the years, and deserves all the accolades today as he bows out on his 70th birthday. What a great coincidence!
“Here is a man whose worth cannot be justifiably rhapsodised in mere words.
It is very difficult and almost impossible to talk about tertiary education in Nigeria and not have prof at the centre of such discourse.
“Even if words fail us, Nigerians still won’t find it hard to recall the transformational reforms he brought to the university system of the country while he held sway at the Nigerian University Commission (NUC).
“The distinguished and renowned Professor of Science Education has, indeed, been a huge blessing to this country and to the rest of the world, if one is to recount his numerous achievements in revalidating and repositioning tertiary education in the country.
“I daresay that Prof is not only an ace educationist but also an astute researcher; the first African to win the prestigious UNESCO Prize for the Communication of Science in 1992. He has won several international gold medals in science and computer education. He has been involved in popularising science Africa since 1986 and served as consultant to many African countries.
“Your sterling brilliance and strict dedication to work has resulted to over 160 internationally published works and over 200 national and international conference presentations. Without mincing words, this qualifies you to be called a genius par academic excellence.
“I must not fail to express the impact of the academic in one of our subsidiaries in Executive Group, called Executive Trainers. To a very large extent, your support has been overwhelming and for this, we say we are eternally grateful.
“Let me also seize this opportunity to reveal that prof has continued to play the father figure role in my personal life, in multifaceted ways. This in loco parentis role of his has touched the softest part of me and I cannot just forget in a hurry.
“Sir, as you clock 70 and also bow out of the civil service today, I pray God grants you the strength of a unicorn to forge ahead, unrelenting, in the rest of the life tasks ahead of you,” said Ogunsan.