Olugbemiro Jegede is a Nigerian emeritus Professor of Science Education and Professor of Digital Learning (ODL). He was the pioneer Vice Chancellor of the National Open University of Nigeria, a former Secretary General, Association of African Universities (AAU) and currently the Chancellor of Littoral University, Porto-Novo, Republic of Benin. He was recently bestowed with two prestigious awards simultaneously in the month of January, 2024.
These awards have distinguished him as one of the very few eminent Nigerians that have touched lives in Kogi State and Nigeria in general.
First, the Archbishop, Metropolitan and Primate of All Nigeria, His Grace, Most Rev’d Henry Ndukuba, on behalf of the members of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), presented an award of Excellence for Faithfulness in Kingdom Service to Professor Jegede, a worthy scholar of high repute, a distinguished administrator, a committed and versatile Anglican, and above all, a humble but respected philanthropist whose service to humanity knows no bound.
Also, on the 26th January, 2024, the erudite emeritus professor was honoured by the government and people of Kogi State for his past and current iconic contributions to the growth and development of the state especially in the fields of education, administration and good sense of judgement while he served as Secretary to the Kogi Government between 2012 and 2016, and his meritorious service to Kogi State, Nigeria, and humanity as a whole. On that basis and many other reasons, he was recently bestowed on with the Confluence Commendation Silver Star Service (CCSSS) award by the Kogi State Government.
Below is the citation read during the investiture of the Church of Nigeria Award on 7 February 2024 at the Standing Committee of the Church.
CITATION OF EMERITUS PROFESSOR OLUGBEMIRO JEGEDE
The name Prof. Olugbemiro Jegede is synonymous with progress, growth, and development, which has set him far above his contemporaries in the modern-day history of Nigeria.
Emeritus Professor Jegede is widely known and recognised in the local community and the large society, as a committed and a tremendously proud Anglican and a Nigerian. His Anglican roots can be traced to his birth into a well-known and respected Anglican family of Ogori in Ogori/Magongo Anglican Diocese of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion).
He began his educational journey at the St Peter’s Anglican Primary School Ogori in 1958 and followed it up by attending the pioneer faith-based secondary school in Kogi State, Crowther Memorial College, Lokoja from 1965 to 1969.
He was a foundation member in 1965 of the famous Crowther Memorial Choir, which has remained a reference point to date. He held positions of responsibilities such as the Chairman, Northern Anglican Laity & Elders’ Forum (2009); Member, Standing Committee of the Synod of the Anglican Communion of Nigeria; Member, Diocesan Council of and a major magnet and pillars of the Missionary Diocese of Ogori/Magongo, January 2009 to date; Chairman, First Synod Planning Committee of the Missionary Diocese of Ogori/Magongo; Chairman, Committee for the Creation of the Missionary Diocese of Ogori/Magongo; Member, Editorial Board, Zumunci: A Magazine of the Anglican Diocese of Kaduna; in 2010.
He was conferred with the Nehemiah Award by the Ogori/Magongo Missionary Diocese of the Anglican Communion for exemplary services to the young Diocese.
He is a member, the Project Planning and Implementation Committee of the proposed Anglican university in the northern part of Nigeria called Walter Miller University. His philanthropic gestures have benefited several dioceses, clergy and families, and Anglican institutions across the country.
He single-handedly erected a plaque which translated Mark 1: 9-11 in Ogori indigenous language (ọkọ) by River Jordan in Israel, which will be dedicated on site as soonIsraeli-Palestinian war is over.
He is a member of the proposed Church of Nigeria University of Science and Technology Planning and Implementation Committee. Professor Jegede was recently appointed by The Archbishop, Metropolitan and Primate of All Nigeria, His Grace, Most Rev’d Henry Ndukuba, as the Adviser on Educational Matters to the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) and followed by the appointment as Chairman of the Church of Nigeria Education Policy Task Force.
Emeritus Professor Olugbemiro Jegede is currently the Chairman, TETFund Advisory Committee on Digital Literacy, Productivity, and Emerging Skills to, amongst others, work towards setting up centres of excellence for Digital Literacy in Nigeria.
Olugbemiro Jegede, who was honoured with the traditional chieftaincy title of the Ogurefa of Ogoriland in 2010, was appointed Emeritus Professor (the first of the only two Emeritus Professors) at the National Open University of Nigeria, in 2015.
He serves as a consultant to many agencies, including AAU, EU, ACDE, UNESCO, COL, World Bank, AfDB, and UNDP.
Emeritus Professor Olugbemiro Jegede is a former Secretary to the Government of Kogi State of Nigeria, a past Secretary-General and Chief Executive of the Association of African Universities (AAU) and at the invitation of Federal Government of Nigeria, was the National Co-ordinator of National Open and Distance Learning Programme (NODLP) from 2001 to 2003.
He was appointed foundation Vice Chancellor of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) in 2003 for a 7-year tenure. By the time he completed his tenure in 2010, he had developed the University to the position of the 7th best university in Nigeria as rated by the Webometric global ranking of universities. NOUN has, as today, registered over 700,000 students.
Professor Jegede holds a double professorship in two academic areas of Science Education and Open and Distance Learning (ODL) (digital learning). He is well regarded and respected globally as a result of his numerous and monumental contributions to teaching and learning.
FIVE out of these major global landmarks and significant contributions to education and the development of knowledge by Professor Jegede are:
(i) Jegede’s Theory of Collateral Learning propounded in 1995, to explain how non-Western science learners attempt to cope within a classroom environment not very receptive to their indigenous knowledge; This Theory of Collateral Learning which, along with other publications has been cited over 8,000 times in global scientific literature at the last count, has been studied by over 56 doctoral graduates world-wide.
(ii) Jegede’s Theory of Webagogy propounded in 1998 in Cambridge, England, for the development of a web-based E-Learning course materials;
(iii) Professor Jegede was a co-founder of the e-Journal in Instructional Science and Technology in 1995 as the first electronic journal in ODL in Australia.
(iv) He co-organised the first ever Video-conferenced general session at the National Association of Research in Science Teaching (NARST) on Scientific literacy: Contextual realities and postmodern controversies with a multi-point linkage with Malaysia, Hong Kong, South Africa and the conference site at Radisson Hotel, New Orleans, LA, USA held from 10.30 am to 12 noon on Saturday, April 29, 2000. This is what has now been developed by others and globally known as Zoom.
(v) Professor Jegede was the first in Australia and most probably in the world to successfully run two electronic/online conferences from October 1993 to January 1994 at the University of Southern Queensland to promote campus-wide dialogue on instructional design and its contribution to the development of distance education study materials.
He also held a globally acclaimed online conference for the Open and Distance Learning Association of Australia as RESODLAA-L on the topic ‘Instructional Design in Distance and Open Education’ from 2 September – 7 October 1994.
Among his national and international awards which Professor Jegede cherishes most are:
- the Best Vice-Chancellor in Nigeria 2009 by the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS);
- the 2009 African Leadership Star Award for Excellence in Tertiary Education;
- the 2010 Hitachi Software of Japan Award of Hitachi Prominent African Leaders for Change in Education; and
- the Association of African Universities (AAU) Award as Higher Education Ambassador for Open and Distance Learning, July 2023.
Emeritus Professor Jegede was a recipient of various academic scholarships including Ohio State Baptist Mission (USA) and Northern Nigeria Scholarships for Higher School Certificate at Federal Government College, Warri (1970-1971); Federal Government of Nigeria Scholarship for undergraduate Studies in Science Education (1972-1975); Inter-University Council Instrument Development at the Chemical Education Department of the University of East Anglia, Norwich, U.K (1977); Inter-University Council (U.K) and Federal Government of Nigeria scholarships for Masters in Education (1976-1978); Commonwealth Scholarship for Ph.D at University of Wales, Cardiff (1979-1981); and University of Southern Queensland Award for Excellence in Research (1995).As a seasoned scholar and administrator, he has made numerous presentations, and demonstrable expertise, in many areas which include Instructional Design, Psycho-Social Environment and Learning, Knowledge Engineering and Cognitive Science, Assessment and Evaluation of Learning, Information and Communication Technologies in Instructional Delivery, Virtual Reality in flexible delivery of instruction.
In addition to over 175 invited keynote addresses at conferences, workshops, summits, retreats and convocation/graduation ceremonies, he has also published more than 25 books and over 173 refereed articles in foremost journals in the world. He has won a variety of research and scholarly grants valued at more than $5,923,794; ¥en 9,578,000 and several millions of Naira.
Emeritus Professor Jegede served in various higher education capacities in outstanding institutions in Africa, Asia, the Pacific and Europe including Curtin University of Technology, Science and Mathematics Education Centre, Perth, Australia; The University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Australia; The Open University of Hong Kong; Manager of the East Asia Regional Node for the World Bank Global Distance Education Network at its inception in 1998; and received the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) grant to establish in 2005 the Regional Training and Research Institute for Open and Distance Learning (RETRIDOL) to support capacity building and research in ODL in the West African Sub region.
He served on the Advisory Board of the United Nations University/ L’Université des Nations Unies Institute for Natural Resources in Africa/Institut des Ressources Naturelles en Afrique.
He is the Chancellor of the Littoral University, Porto-Novo, Republic of Benin; and honoured with PhD (honoris causa) of that university. He was conferred in 2013 by Salem University with the degree of D. Sc in Public Administration (honoris causa).
He is a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Education (FNAE), Fellow of the Commonwealth of Learning (FCOL), Fellow of the African Academy of Science (FAAS) and Fellow of the Science Teachers Association of Nigeria (FSTAN). He is the 2015 recipient of the International Council for Distance Education (ICDE) Prize of Excellence for Lifelong Contribution to the field.
He is the first and only African who has been awarded the digital badge (credential) as a Special Speaker at the 29th World Conference of the International Council for Distance Education (ICDE) held in San Jose, Costa Rica, Central America from 6-10 November 2023, among other achievements too numerous to mention.
The Archbishop, Metropolitan and Primate of All Nigeria, members of the Standing Commitee of the Anglican Comnunion, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, it is a great honour and privilege to present to you a worthy scholar of repute, a distinguished administrator, a committed and tremendously versatile Anglican and a humble but respected philanthropist- Emeritus Professor Olugbemiro Jegede for the conferment of the award of Excellence for Faithfulness in Kingdom Service.
