A former Deputy Governor of Oyo State, Otunba Moses Adeyemo, on Monday, said he enrolled in further studies at the University of Ibadan to acquire more knowledge on peace and conflict resolution in order to use the skills to help Nigeria and Oyo State.
Adeyemo, who was deputy to the late Governor Abiola Ajimobi from 2011 to 2019, said age could not be a limit to education.
The former deputy governor is a Ph.D student at the Department of Peace and Conflicts Studies at the University of Ibadan.
Adeyemo stated this while speaking with The Guardian at the three-day training organised for new doctoral students of the UI by The Doctoral Academy of the Post-graduate College of the premier university. The workshop was organised in partnership with the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa {CARTA} at the Trenchard Hall of UI.
The former deputy governor said: ‘’Serving as a Deputy Governor does not mean academy. I am enrolling because knowledge has no limit. It does not depend on age. It is about interest and the need to acquire more knowledge. I am a peace scholar. I am pursuing peace and conflict studies. The world today is about conflicts. So, if at my age, I have come to learn about peace and conflicts, it means I want to be a peacemaker for Nigeria and Oyo State’’.
Speaking, the Provost of PG College, Prof. Ayo Ogunjuyigbe, said the programme was to reduce the turnaround time for Ph.D students and officially institutionalise the Doctoral Academy at the university .
He said: ‘In the first year of their Ph.D programme. We found out that the turnaround time for Ph. D students has not been consistent. Some come for three years and end up spending six, seven, to eight years. It is not ideal for the kind of manpower that we want to develop for the nation. What we have done is to create an opportunity to build a situation where we can graduate students at the right time’’.
He urged the government to address issues leading to brain drain.
One of the facilitators, Prof. Remi Ayede said it was to provide orientation for our first year Ph.D candidates and to develop skills around research and research methods and all that they require as they carry with them their Ph.D journey’’.