Dr. Tunji Olowolafe: Nigerian Universities Must Open Research, Test Beliefs and Drive Innovation

At the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife 65th anniversary celebration, Dr. Tunji Olowolafe, Founder of the Tunji Olowolafe Foundation (TOF), called on Nigerian universities to open research to more people, test long-held beliefs with scientific rigour and carry discoveries out of the laboratory and into the economy.

Speaking on the theme, “Promoting Research Excellence and Innovation in Postgraduate Studies: Charting the Future,” Dr. Olowolafe reframed research as the disciplined habit of correcting a nation’s course based on evidence. He described the postgraduate college as the intellectual engine room of a nation, where society sends its sharpest minds to challenge conventional wisdom and demand honest, data-driven answers.

His first strategy called for opening the gates of research earlier, wider and more flexibly. He urged OAU to make its Staff Schools benchmarks for Africa, with science, technology and artificial intelligence at the core of the curriculum. He pointed to the Foundation’s Gbemisola Olowolafe Memorial Community Secondary School in Are Ekiti, which opened in September 2025 with 100 students and now has more than 170, alongside an ICT centre teaching artificial intelligence, coding, graphic design and Mandarin, with instructors teaching live from Beijing through a Starlink connection.

“The postgraduate researchers of 2040 are sitting in primary classrooms today,” he said.

He also questioned whether every road to postgraduate research must run through a four-year degree, inviting universities to recognize prior learning and demonstrated expertise without lowering standards. With only about one million of the two million UTME candidates admitted in 2025, he argued that flexible, digital study must become the standard model, since a digital campus needs no physical acreage. This builds on the Foundation’s Project Digi-Teach, which is training academic staff at Ekiti State University (EKSU) for digital proficiency.

His second strategy urged researchers to test what society believes. Rather than dismissing indigenous knowledge without investigation or defending it without validation, he called for rigorous testing, citing Chinese scientist Tu Youyou, whose study of a centuries-old herbal remedy produced the malaria treatment artemisinin and a Nobel Prize. He extended the same principle to national history, including sensitive chapters such as the Civil War.

“She neither rejected tradition nor accepted it. She tested it,” he said.

The third strategy focused on pushing research out of the laboratory and directly into the economy. Dr. Olowolafe advocated university promotion structures that reward patents, commercial products and solved industrial problems alongside traditional journal publications.

“Research is complete only when it leaves the laboratory and improves lives,” he said.

Pointing to OAU’s exceptional tech pedigree, including Flutterwave and Moniepoint founded by its graduates, he challenged the global alumni community to scale up their financial, institutional and mentorship support for research tenfold.

To support this vision, the Foundation will install a solar power system for the Postgraduate College, provide a virtual learning and oral defense facility and modernize the College Boardroom. TOF will also fund pilot studies on a case-by-case basis and sponsor training in grant writing and donor compliance, working with OAU’s Central Office of Research and Advancement Office.

“Our ambition must go beyond providing infrastructure to building institutions that can generate knowledge and attract global research funding. By strengthening the capacity of our universities, we can expand opportunities for our people and position Nigeria to compete more effectively in the global knowledge economy,” he noted.

Through these ideas and commitments, the Tunji Olowolafe Foundation continues to advance its broader ambition of strengthening the institutions, skills and opportunities that support Nigeria’s long-term development. Its work across education, digital learning and research capacity reflects a sustained commitment to equipping institutions and the next generation with the tools to compete and thrive in an increasingly knowledge-driven world.

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