Professor S. M. Odeyinka

http://www.simisolaodeyinka.i.ng

Professor Simisola Mercy Odeyinka is a scholar and woman of excellence. She was the first female to obtain First Class Degree in Agriculture at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. She obtained her Ph.D. barely five years after her National Youth Service Corps. She joined the Department of Animal Sciences at Obafemi Awolowo University in 1991 and rose through the ranks and files to become a professor in 2007.  She is also the first and the ONLY female Dean in the Faculty of Agriculture and the first female mentor to be appointed in Obafemi Awolowo University by African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD). She was the  Director of the Centre for Gender and Social Policy Studies. She was the first woman to be elected twice as a member of the Governing Council of Obafemi Awolowo University (2011-2015). She is a Fellow of the Nigerian Society for Animal Production and of the Nigerian Postgraduate College of Animal Science.

Professor (Mrs) Odeyinka was a Member, Governing Board of Institute for Agricultural Research and Training, Ibadan, Oyo-State (2011-2016). She was Consultant to Lagos State (2009, 2013) and Osun State (2012 -2013). She was an Appointed Member, Steering Committee of Ekiti State for the establishment of College of Agriculture, 2013 to 2014 and Member, Governing Board of College of Agriculture and Technology, Isan-Ekiti, 2019 to date. She was a member of the Visitation Panel to the Ekiti State Teaching Hospital (November, 2018 to January, 2019). She was a Member, Strategy Advisory Committee (STRADVCOM) for NUC. The Committee developed a 2050 Foresight Plan for Nigeria. We worked on the Agriculture and Food Security Plan (Revised Blueprint 2050 on Food Security) – August to November, 2020.

Professor (Mrs) Odeyinka holds the Fellowship of the West African Dwarf Goat Research of the Department of Animal Production Systems Wageningen, The Netherlands, Commonwealth Postdoctoral Fellowship, U.K., Stapledon Memorial Fellowship, U.K., the Netherlands Fellowship Programme, Norman Borlaug Fellowship for Women in Agriculture USA, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency Fellowship, among others. She belongs to many international and national professional associations, such as the Nigerian Society for Animal Production, the British Society of Animal Science, the Nigerian Society for Environmental Management, Animal Science Association of Nigeria, the American Society of Agronomy, and World Rabbit Association. She is a well-travelled and keynote speaker, discussant and presenter in many conferences, seminars and workshops within and outside the Continent of Africa.  She has to her credit more than seventy research publications / articles which are widely cited by scholars in Africa and other continents of the world. She is a reviewer and serves in editorial boards of academic journals. She has been / is  an examiner to many Universities in Nigeria.

As the Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, she transformed the Faculty and the Teaching & Research Farm in many areas too numerous to mention. As Director of the Centre for Gender and Social Policy Studies, she secured  the University’s approval of  the anti-sexual harassment policy, held an International Conference on Gender (the first of it`s kind in about twenty years in the Centre) and resucitated/ published another edition of the African Journal of Gender and Development in April, 2015 ( was last published in 2008).

Among her many talents and gifts, by which she was able to make a difference anywhere she serves/leads, are  warmth, doggedness, sacrificial commitment to relationships and passion for excellence. She is a motivator, helper, leader, a goal-getter. Her quest to always make a difference anywhere she finds herself stands Professor (Mrs) Odeyinka out among her contemporaries.

Over the years, Professor (Mrs) Odeyinka has transcended the boundary of basic research to address real life problems through applied research. Thus, besides her groundbreaking research outputs such as turning waste into wealth and cost-effective feedings for ruminants in hard places and times, Simisola has forayed into converting innovations into life-changing and empowerment programmes for rural dwellers. This foray has enabled her to empower the masses in her research endeavours and to provide consultancy services to various state governments of Nigeria. In her research activity, Professor (Mrs) Odeyinka explores the possibility of creating wealth from waste through the production of livestock feeds from household and agricultural wastes. She improved the livelihood of the rural women through her moringa project. She is currently working on the use of non-conventional feedstuffs for ruminant nutrition She also combines science, stewardship, mentorship and advocacy to enhance human progress.