By Opeyemi Quadri 
A 58-year-old Professor of Soil Ecosystem, Joshua Olalekan Ogunwole, was on Thursday, November 6, 2025, appointed as the fifth Vice-Chancellor of Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE). He earlier served as the fourth VC of Bowen University, Iwo, Osun State, Nigeria (2018– July, 2023).
He will succeed Professor Abayomi Sunday Fasina, whose tenure is expected to come to an end in February 2026, according to the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council of the institution after a council meeting which was held at the headquarters of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) in Abuja. He will assume office on February 11, 2026,
Meet Joshua Ogunwole
Born 23 July 23, 1967, Joshua Olalekan Ogunwole is a Nigerian professor of Soil Science with nearly 30 years of experience in teaching, research, and community service.
Career
He began his academic career at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State. He has served in several Nigerian universities, including Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (ABU); Adamawa State University, Mubi (ADSU); Federal University Dutsin-Ma (FUDMA); Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE); and Bowen University, Iwo.
In 2024, he was appointed as FUOYE’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Strategic Partnership, Research, Innovation and Linkages) due to his global and international academic works.
Academic Engagements
Throughout his career, Ogunwole has received several prestigious international fellowships. He was awarded the J. William Fulbright Scholarship, completing his fellowship at Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pennsylvania between 2009 to 2010. Earlier, he was a TWAS (The World Academy of Sciences) Postdoctoral Fellow at the Central Salt & Marine Chemicals Research Institute, Bhavnagar, India (2006–2007).
In 2010, through the TWAS Associateship Programme at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) in Colombo, Sri Lanka, he served as a soil scientist under the CGIAR-Nile Challenge Programme at the institute’s East African Regional Office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
From 2014 to 2015, he held the Alexander von Humboldt (AvH) Fellowship, conducting advanced research on carbon dynamics in soils at the University of Hannover, Germany.
Between 2011 and 2017, Ogunwole served as a Regular Associate at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy. He was also a leading African facilitator for the Australian Award Africa Programme, where he conducted extensive training on Dryland Farming (2012 – 2013), Soil and Water Conservation Africa Fellowships (2014 – 2015), and Irrigation & Water Resources Management for Africa (2017) in Tunisia, Kenya, and Ethiopia.
Research Contributions
Ogunwole has worked as a consultant with several international research organisations, including the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) in Mali in 2015. In 2016, he was appointed a College Research Associate (CRA) at the United Nations University, Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (UNU-INRA), Accra, Ghana.
Scholar works
Some of his research works have been published in both local and international journals. Notable among them, which he co-authored with other scholars, include:
- Changes in Soil Aggregate Stability and Carbon Sequestration Mediated by Land Use Practices in a Degraded Dry Savanna Alfisol;
- Effect of Organic and Inorganic Soil Amendments on Soil Physical and Chemical Properties in a West African Savanna Agroecosystem;
- Crop Performance and Soil Fertility Improvement Using Organic Fertilizer Produced from Valorization of Carica papaya Fruit Peel; and
- Effects of Termite Mounds on Land Use in the Humid Forest and Derived Savanna of Nigeria, among others.
Credit: Featured image portrait by @promise_abodunrin on Instragram
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