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A LESSON I LEARNT FROM DR OLUGBEMI AKINKOYE, mni -1943-2025
By Idowu Olayinka
I was not close to the late Dr Olugbemi Akinkoye who passed on recently at the age of 82 years. By the time I joined the Faculty at the University of Ibadan he was already a well-established scholar. I only learnt about his reputation from the grapevine as someone who graduated with a First Class honours in Sociology before pursuing his doctoral research. To that extent, his fame preceded him.
I first met him in person in 1996 after attending the funeral of Dr Mrs Tosin Akin-Ojo who was a senior colleague of mine in the Department of Geology. After the interment some of our Geology elders went to pay a condolence visit to her husband, Professor Akin Ojo of the Department of Physics at their Ashi-Bashorun residence. The visit over, we went to the residence of Dr Olusegun Agagu (1948-2013), my Petroleum Geology Lecturer while I was an undergraduate and lately Governor of Ondo State and Minister of Aviation nearby. Dr Agagu and Dr Akinkoye were very good friends and colleagues.
Dr Akinkoye was at the time the General Manager of Ogun Oshun River Basin Development Authority, Abeokuta. In the course of the discussions that ensued, he narrated one experience he had when the power generator for the establishment was faulty and had to be repaired urgently.
Knowing the usual tardiness and red tape associated with government bureaucracy in seeking approval for funding, he said he called all the officers involved in the chain of command for the approval process to an urgent round table mini-conference. He ensured that each relevant officer signed off his own schedule and passed it on to the next person in the chain. By the time the meeting was concluded the approval was ready for execution. Precious time was saved in the process and the faulty generator was fixed immediately after. So much for dynamism of Dr Akinkoye. It was the American politician, Ross Perot, who said that ‘If you see a snake, just kill it; do not set up a committee on snakes’.
Sincere condolences are extended to Mrs Akinkoye, their children and the entire Akinkoye Family, his friends and associates.
Rest in perfect peace, Sir, great scholar and eminent administrator.
Idowu Olayinka
Former Vice-Chancellor
University of Ibadan
Sunday, 7th December 2025
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