Kayode Soremekun is a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was derived from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jo ...

academic, author, and the third vice chancellor of

Federal University Oye Ekiti Federal University Oye Ekiti is a government-owned and operated Nigerian university. The university has two campuses located in the ancient cities of Oye-Ekiti and Ikole-Ekiti respectively. The university was founded in 2011 as one of the fed ...

Ekiti State Ekiti () is a state in southwestern Nigeria, bordered to the North by Kwara State for 61 km, to the Northeast by Kogi State for 92 km, to the South and Southeast by Ondo State, and to the West by Osun State for 84 km. Named for the Ekiti ...

. He assumed duty after the sacking of professor Isaac Asuzu by President Mohammadu Buhari who took over from Professor Chinedu Nebo, the pioneer Vice Chancellor

Early life

Soremekun attended Nigeria's premier secondary grammar school, King's College Lagos, from 1967 to 1971. He attended the University of Ife now

Obafemi Awolowo University Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) is a federal university in Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. The university was founded in 1961 and classes commenced in October 1962 as the University of Ife by the regional government of Western Nigeria, which w ...

where he obtained a B.A. English/History and a M.Sc. and Ph.D. in International relations. The Ph.D. was on Nigeria's petroleum policy and international relations. Soremekun undertook postdoctoral studies at the

Institute of Social Studies An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations ( research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ...

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

, Netherlands and the

University of Maryland College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD i ...

, US where he studied international law and the US foreign policy process, respectively.

Career

Soremekun worked in several universities in Nigeria, including

University of Lagos The University of Lagos (UNILAG) is a Public university, public research university located in Lagos, Nigeria, which was founded in 1962. UNILAG is one of the education in Nigeria#First generation universities, first generation universities in ...

Covenant University Covenant University (CU) is a private Christian university in Ota, Nigeria, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria. It is affiliated with Living Faith Church Worldwide and is a member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities, Association of African Un ...

and the

National Open University of Nigeria The National Open University of Nigeria is a Federal government of Nigeria, federal open and distance learning (ODL) institution, the first of its kind in the West African sub-region. It is Nigeria's largest tertiary institution in terms of stu ...

. During tenure as Vice Chancellor in Federal University Oye, he added eleven Faculties. It offers virtually all the courses on offer in Nigeria's First Generation Universities. He was commended by the University Council, and very much the same commendation was in his exit letter from the university. He retired from Obafemi Awolowo University as Dean. In his memoirs he referred to the fact that a refurbishment of the Faculty of Administration took place courtesy of the funds that he was able to source from Nigerian Breweries Limited. Faculties including Law, Social Sciences, and Education followed suit.

Works

Soremekun has edited several books, including ''Governance and Democratization in Nigeria'' (1995), and ''Nigeria's Second Republic'' (1988). He also worked as a staff writer in political affairs, for Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, and for ''Times International'' and ''Daily Times of Nigeria''. He served on the editorial board of ''Daily Times'' Lagos. He was an editorial training instructor for Times Newspaper Training Centre, ''Daily Times Lagos''. He was a visiting editorial board member of ''The AM News,'' a pro-democracy, quasi-guerilla newspaper during military rule in Nigeria. He worked as a visiting editorial board member of ''The Guardian'' and ''The Compass'' newspapers. Prior to his assumption of office as Vice-Chancellor he served as chairman of the editorial board of ''Business Day,'' a daily business newspaper in Nigeria. Soremekun has published journal articles on inter-related areas of conflict,

petroleum politics Petroleum politics have been an increasingly important aspect of diplomacy since the rise of the petroleum industry in the Middle East in the early 20th century. As competition continues for a vital resource, the strategic calculations of major ...

, and energy resources. He has around 50 peer-reviewed publications. Soremekun served as External Examiner to the

University of Ghana, Legon A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

. He has also served as a Visiting Lecturer in the Peace Studies Program in the Universitat Jaime 1 in Castellon, Spain.

Recognition

* Scholarship student in Kings College, Lagos. (1967 -1971) * National Scholar Award, (1973 - 1976) * Ford Foundation Scholar (1991) * Senior Fulbright Research Scholar (2003) * Resident Rockefeller Scholar in Bellagio Italy (2003)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soremekun, Kayode Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Vice-chancellors of Nigerian universities Academic staff of the National Open University of Nigeria Academic staff of the University of Lagos Obafemi Awolowo University alumni Academic staff of Covenant University