On February 5, 2026, Oduduwa Hall, the architecture wonder sitting a few metres to the imposing Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife Senate building, was filled almost to capacity, not by movie or music lovers but by Management Accounting Department students, their lecturers and the school management led by the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Adebayo Bamire.
They were hosting their 2005 set of graduates who were back to the department which shaped them and transformed their destinies to be top players in private and public sectors of the nation’s economy.
TheTabloid.net gathered that the emergence of Professor Oyesola Salawu as Dean, Faculty of Admnistration in 2025 was accompanied by innovative touches, including the renovation of the faculty by one of his former students of the 2005 set who is currently holding a very sensitive post in the President Bola Tinubu admnistration.
The event of the day was the inaugural edition of the faculty’s distinguished personality lecture, Themed “From Potential To Posterity: Export-led Economy”. The lecture had on the podium the Executive Chairman, Nigeria Revenue Service, Dr Zacch Adedeji, who, in his paper, lamented the fate of Nigeria’s snoring economy despite vast human and natural resources with which the nation is blessed, arguing that it is indefensible for Nigeria to remain stagnant when countries like Vietnam has metaphorically since left Egypt.
Adedeji revealed, “While global peers like Vietnam have successfully transitioned from Agriculture to high-tech manufacturing, Nigeria remains monolithic, with an export profile dangerously anchored to the volatile fluctuations of crude oil and gas.”
His lecture is indeed a diagnosis which pointed out that Nigeria occupies 142th position out of 145 countries on the Economic Complexity Index (ECI). However, all hope is not lost. He recommended, “The focus has to shift from the quantity of what we send abroad to the quality of knowledge we build at home.”
It was an engaging lecture which saw the entire hall listening to him with rapt attention and commending him for the feat he had achieved in his intellectual development and financial success between 2005 when he graduated and now.
In his goodwill message on behalf of the 2005 set, the Chief Accountant of the Trevi Foundations Nigeria Limited, Mr Taofeek Azeez congratulated the dean, the faculty, the department and his classmates for the lecture which offered them the window to reunite and bring back old memories, saying he was very proud to be an alumnus of the institution in general and the faculty in particular.
Azeez specifically paid a tribute to Adedeji for, according to him, being a good and reliable ambassador, the 2005 set’s pride, who has impacted positively on his colleagues through his different positions in public services from when he served as Commissioner of Finance in the immediate past admnistration in Oyo state.
“Also, your recent contribution to the renovation of our esteemed faculty is appreciated by all of us! May God continue to bless, guide and protect you as you reach greater heights,” he prayed.
Aside the deafening chorus of the school famous anthem, another highlight of the day was presentation of the university distinguished alumni award to Adedeji by the dean of the faculty himself.
In addition to that, the management also hosted him in the faculty boardroom where the Vice-Chancellor officially welcomed him and introduced his three Deputy Vice-Chancellors, the Registrar, the Bursar as well as other principal officers of the university, including Azeez, to him and his entourage. As a mark of honour, he was also decorated with the O.A.U. academic regalia.
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