Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State has felicitated with Emeritus Professor, Mojeed Olayide Abass who is 80 years old , praying to God to grant him more blessed years on earth.
In a statement signed by Adeleke’s spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed on Friday, Adeleke described Prof Abass as a great mentor of many leaders within and outside Osun state government today, noting that it is a matter of great joy to have many successful professionals who passed through one’s tutelage now in key public and private sectors.
” You are a leader of leaders, a man who God used to raise many from nothing to something. You are not just an erudite academician but a community builder whose maxim is building the people is building the society.
” On behalf of your many mentees including our Royal Majesty , Timi of Edeland and other cabinet and non-cabinet members in my government, I rejoice with you today. We wish you more blessed years”, Governor Adeleke noted.
It should be put on record that Emeritus Professor Mojeed Olayide Akanbi Abass, Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Science (FAS), Fellow of the British Computer Society (FBCS), Commander of the Order of Niger (CON), astute and quintessential mentor, was born into the Adekilekun dynasty of Imole’s Compound, Ede, in Ede-North Local Government Area of Osun State on August 20, 1943, to Sheikh (Pa) Abass Ayinde Bello Adekilekun and Alhaja Aasiata Alake Adepeola Abass Adekilekun. His father and mother died on January 19, 1964, and August 8, 2008, respectively.
His early education took place in Ondo, where he attended Ondo Boys’ High School between 1956 and 1960 to obtain the First School Leaving and West African School Certificates after his primary school education in the early 50s at L.A. School Agbongbe Ede, Osun State. He returned to Abeokuta Grammar School, Abeokuta, for his Higher School Certificate between 1962 and 1963 and to the University of Lagos (1964–1967), from where he obtained a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc. Hons.) degree in Mathematics with Second Class (Upper Division).
His brilliant performance during his degree program earned him an in-service training scholarship for postgraduate studies at Aston, Birmingham, in England, where he bagged an M.Sc. in 1969. Thereafter, he went to the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, where he graduated with a M.S. in Mathematics in 1970. In his further quest for knowledge, Emeritus Professor Mojeed Olayide Abass bagged a Ph.D. in 1973 with a bias in modeling and computational statistics from the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
Emeritus Prof. Abass’ academic working career started at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, as a graduate assistant in 1969. On obtaining a Ph.D. degree, he was appointed Lecturer Grade II at the University of Lagos in 1973, Lecturer Grade I in 1975, Senior Lecturer in 1977, Associate Professor in 1979, Full Professor in 1983, Distinguished Professor in 2007, and Emeritus Professor in 2016.
Undoubtedly, Professor Mojeed Olayide Abass is gifted in the three phases of research and academia: the bench, the pen, and the podium.
He is a thoroughbred Mathematician, a Mathematical Statistician, and a superb applied Mathematician with deep interest in the ‘pure’. He is a well-known Computer Guru. He was a member of an original group of individuals at the University of Lagos who came together in the mid-eighties to form the Operational Society of Nigeria.
Emeritus Prof. Abass, in his academic publications and administrative engagements, symbolizes many of the intellectual and practical concerns of the group and many other academic forums. His research outputs in his unique field of Computing and Mathematics in the context of Optimization and Simulation are well-recognized nationally and internationally.
He was outstanding as a supervisor to postgraduate students, where his capacity, mentorship, and leadership were demonstrated as he played an invaluable and commendable role in the enrichment of doctoral theses that were reviewed and assessed.
Emeritus Professor Mojeed Olayide Abass was the Deputy Vice Chancellor during the second term of Professor Nurudeen Alao as the Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos. He had served as a consultant to the Awolowo Foundation on higher education matters. His emergence as a consultant gave him the leeway to propose principles by which appropriate (and, perhaps, optimal) numbers of higher institutions can be established instead of relying upon vague and emotional assertions involved in expressions such as ‘too many’ or ‘too few’: the balance of need as determined by the output of the secondary system and affordability as determined by resource availability.
Emeritus Professor Mojeed Olayide Abass is a bridge builder, providing productive links between generations, between university departments and faculties, between congregation and council, and between the university and the alumni association.
He was a Senate representative on Council. He was also a congregational representative on council.
Two fundamental trademarks of higher mathematics are rigor and elegance in the presentation of logical truths. Sometimes, professionals carry these trademarks into real-life encounters, and when they do, they manifest fierce bravery in the pursuit of truth, which they express with admirable clarity and simplicity. Emeritus Professor Mojeed Olayide Abass carries these characteristics into real-life interactions.
Prof. Abass is a member of various professional academic bodies, among which are:
- Member, Association of Computing Machinery
- Member, American Statistical Association
- Fellow, British Computer Society
- Member, Nigerian Institute of Management
- Member, Institute of Forecasting
- Member International Statistics Association
- Fellow, Nigeria Computer Society
- Fellow, Computer Professional Registration Council of Nigeria
- Fellow, Nigeria Academy of Science Furthermore, he has held several academic and administrative positions at the University of Lagos, among which are:
- Ag. Head, Department of Computer Science 1977-1980
- Ag. Head, Department of Computer Science 1982-1984
- Head, Department of Computer Science 1984-1986
- Hall Warden, El-kanemi Hall 1977-1979
- Hall Master, El-Kanemi Hall 1979-1985
- Dean, Faculty of Science 1986-1990
- Chairman, governing Council, The Polytechnic, Iree 1991-1993
- Registrar, Computer Professional Registration Council of Nigeria 1990-1993
- Ag. Managing Director, UNILAG consult 1990-1993
- Deputy of Vice-Chancellor 1993-1995
- Head, Department of Computer Science 2006-2008
“He is an advisor, a scholar par excellence, an administrator, a leader, and a highly principled individual. His sincerity and integrity are exceptional; he always sees potential in every individual that crosses his path. He had successfully supervised eighteen Ph.D. candidates, some of whom are now full professors and university administrators.
“His scholarship, brilliance, and depth were evident, clear, and inspiring—a stimulus that invoked, of course, eternal inspiration for focused academic progress for many determined scholars. There is no gainsaying the fact that top-level human capital assets for the nation and world at large are a commendable and laudable achievement of this great and exemplary academic icon of our time.
