RISING BEYOND OBSCURITY…THE STORY OF A YOUNG NIGERIAN PROFESSOR IN DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA Femi Ojo

There are few people who motivate us by their boldness, courage, intellect, humility, grit, smartness, unmatched energy, multiple skills, and boundless love for humanity, compassion, composure, wisdom, comradeship, honesty, braveness and selfless service in our society today.  One of such young Nigerians, who is an embodiment of all those characteristics above is Prof. Josiah Adeyemo, a professor of Civil Engineering in faraway  Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa and  an Adjunct Professor of Water Engineering at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, Kenya. He is one of the few intellectuals in the world that National Research Foundation (NRF) has rated so high and has about 158 citations from 2009 to 2015 and h index of 7 from Google Scholar and globally quoted in the academic and civil engineering industries respectively.

There are many things that make Prof. Josiah Adeyemo thick, a trail blazer and difficult to ignore in the academic world and among civil engineering industry. The young professor whose dreams and accomplishments are taller than his height confronted many obstacles on his way to the top but like a great man who never gives up in the face of challenges, the young professor did not allow the challenges, obstacles and problems encountered in his life’s journey to take away his dreams. At the young age of 39 in 2014, he became a full Professor of Civil Engineering in faraway Durban University of Technology, South Africa, the most  honourific academic title that many academics still struggle to attain with grey hair. One can summarize his life in Ann Voskamp quote, “I have lived pain, and my life can tell: I only deepen the wound of the world when I neglect to give thanks the heavy perfume of wild roses in early July and the song of crickets on summer humid nights and the rivers that run and the stars that rise and the rain that falls and all the good things that a good God gives” For a man who resigned his lecturing job in Nigeria in pursuit  of a doctorate degree in South Africa with nothing or little financially, it was as if he was crazy in the eyes of his friends and others even his parents were not happy with his decision but he was not bothered. He failed many times, was ridiculed, was brutalized by bad eggs in South African police just for being a Nigerian who would never give up his dreams and who equally stood for his rights on a neighbouring African soil! He was framed and was nearly deported. He sold two cars he had in Nigeria to pay for the price of education in South Africa and rode bicycle to  hawk goods on the street of Pretoria yet determined that one day his actions would make sense to those who believed he had gone crazy by leaving his promising career back home. In his words “I left my glory and palace to sojourn in a foreign country. I slept in a room shared by three other guys, I walked on the streets of Pretoria with my heavily pregnant wife, and we had no car after selling off our two cars in Nigeria. I missed a bullet by armed robbers by a whisker. I came through hardship and I tell you, I had a share of life. God has been good to me in these last 40 years; I have been where I never thought I would be”

Prof and his' Ele Pupa' wife

Indeed, he went through hell but he was brave and determined and today his life inspires millions across the world. For a man whose humble beginning started in the then rural  Ogbomoso town, Oyo State, Nigeria and who confronted plethora of challenges but with divine help came out successfully and now acts on the global scene, one cannot but be inspired by such a success story. Prof. Josiah Adeyemo's elementary education was in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria and his secondary education was equally in the same town at Ogbomoso Baptist High School, from where he proceeded to the University of Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria for his Bachelors of Science degree in Agricultural Engineering and later his master’s degree in Water Resources Engineering at the University of Ibadan. He was briefly a civil servant with  Oyo State government and later taught at Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ogun State in Nigeria from where he courageously proceeded to study for his Ph.d  in Civil Engineering   at Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria between  2007- 2009. His sound research skills made him to complete his doctoral programme expressly and thereafter became the shining star in the academic circles. He also has National Diploma in Computer Science from Kwara State Polytechnic and currently he is on his way to having another Ph.D. in Business Administration by the time he completes his MBA.

At various times, his sagacity has made  him to go on academic-globetrotting and consultancy services across many top cities in the world such as, London, Baltimore, Atlanta City, Kansas City, Boston, Dubai, Doha, Glasgow, Sydney, Brisbane, Germany, Netherland, Mexico, Argentina,  Australia, Perth, Melbourne, New York City, Washington DC, Cape,  Manus (Brazil), Saul Paulo, Rio Janeiro, Paris, Rome, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pretoria and of course he has been to almost 26 states in Nigeria. For his sound research skills, he has received numerous awards in various universities such as , the best doctoral student in 2009 at  Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa, top university researcher in 2012 at Durban University of Technology and  in 2013 from the same university, he was awarded outstanding lecturer of the year by Council of Durban University of Technology amongst many others. He is an external reviewer for various academic institutions, national and international consultant on civil engineering and water related matters. He has supervised undergraduate students, masters and doctoral students and been external supervisor to many universities. He is professionally grounded in the civil engineering industry, a worthy engineer with Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN),  a member of Association of American Society of Agricultural and Biosystem Engineers (ASABE),  a proud member of Water Institute of Southern Africa (WISA) and International Water Association (IWA) just to mention but a few. 

Beyond his academic strides in the areas of hydrology, crop planning,  resources management, irrigation planning and  scheduling, algorithm development and artificial intelligence (AI), multi – objective optimization  etc., there is something political  about this 40 years old Nigerian Professor. He always stands for justice for all including fighting for the rights of animals. In the recent wake of xenophobic  attack in South Africa, he was among those leading Nigerians who stood  against this barbaric act, he went on street-protests with other comrades, spoke against it and went to the extent of using national and international media platforms including BBC to speak against this atrocity. He did not just lament on Facebook but he protested against xenophobic on the streets of South Africa till it was nipped in the bud.

Prof  Josiah Adeyemo’s  astonishing feats given his young age in both academic and professional industries  would not have been possible without divine help and that of his “Ele Pupa” as he amorously calls his wife, herself a faculty member, Dr. Folashade Esther Adeyemo. It was “Ele Pupa” who advised him to give South Africa a shot for his doctoral programme even though Prof. Josiah had already gotten an admission to study for his Ph.d programme in one of the universities in the U.K. Today he says, he thanks his wife for that decision that has changed his life for better. And today the union has produced two beautiful daughters who are equally doing well academically.