LAGOS — President Goodluck Jonathan has joined the academic community in paying glowing tribute to the late Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Professor Adetokunbo Babatunde Sofoluwe who died, Saturday.
The President in a condolence message signed by his Special Adviser (Media & Publicity), Mr Reuben Abati, described the late Professor Sofoluwe as “an accomplished and renowned academic,” commended his remarkable achievements in the field of computer science in particular and sciences in general.
Jonathan also lauded the administrative acumen of the late 12th Vice-Chancellor of the university, especially the reforms he introduced in the area of Information Technology.
While the President expressed hope that his successors would build on the worthy legacies bequeathed by Sofoluwe, he regreted that his expertise would be greatly missed especially at this time that university administrators are faced with the daunting challenge of making the nation’s universities true citadels of learning and incubators of developmental ideas in order to make them globally competitive.
In his condolence message, the Vice Chancellor, Lagos State University (LASU), Prof. John Obafunwa described Sofoluwe as “a fine gentleman, very simple, brilliant and a good administrator, loved by friends, professorial colleagues, teaching and non-teaching staff and students.”
Also, Prof. Olu Akeusola, Provost, Michael Otedola College of Primary Education (MOCPED), Noforija-Epe, in his tribute, yesterday, described Sofoluwe’s death as a big loss to the academic community.
He noted that “his exit is a pointer to us that it’s not how long you stay on earth, but the good things you did while on earth that will make people talk well of you. Jesus Christ never lived for more than 33 years, but the World still talk of him even 2012 years after.”
He expressed gratitude to God that Sofoluwe is leaving a very good name and legacy behind.
On his part, Professor Ralph Akinfeleye, Head, Department of Mass Communication, UNILAG described the death of Sofoluwe as a devastating and a monumental loss not only to the university community, but to the academic World in general.
His words: “Sofoluwe was a very nice man, focussed, humble, transparent and easy going. He was a good administrator who used his expertise in computer engineering to transform UNILAG into a citadel of e-learning. Our results through him became accessible online.”
Prof. Adetokunbo Sofoluwe died at the age 62, at about 1.00am, Saturday. He died of a heart attack he suffered at a meeting on campus, Friday night.
Sofoluwe, a Professor of Computer Sciences, was born on April 15, 1950 and was appointed the 10th VC of UNILAG on 30 January, 2010, taking over from Professor Tolu Odugbemi. He graduated in special mathematics in June 1973 from the university and earned his master’s degree in 1975 and doctorate in 1981 from Edinburgh University, Scotland.
He became a graduate assistant at UNILAG in 1976 where he rose to become a full professor in October 1996.
Sofoluwe was a two-time acting Head of the Department of Computer Science from 1989 to 1991 and 1994 to 1996. He was also Dean of the Faculty of Science between 1998 and 2002 and was elected as a member of the Governing Council of the University of Lagos in 2000.
He was the third alumnus to be appointed Vice-Chancellor of UNILAG when he was appointed to the position in January 2010.
News Credit: Vanguard
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