It is double celebration for Professor Isaac Ayodele Olatunji of the Federal University Oye Ekiti (FUOYE) as he will deliver the 24th inuagural lecture of the institution and also celebrate his 70th birthday anniversary.
Olatunji, a professor of Applied Valuation, will on Tuesday, 26 May, 2026 speak on the topic, “Housing Care and Support for Nigerians –The Optimality Dimension to a Critical Real Estate Decision.”
Two days after the inaugural lecture, Professor Olatunji will treat friends and relations to another round of celebration as he marks his 70th birthday anniversary on Thursday, 28 May.
Olatunji: A Journey Into Two Worlds
Professor Olatunji, a former Dean, Faculty of Environmental Design and Management (EDM) FUOYE, was, at a time, Head, Department of Estate Management – Valuation, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State, before moving to FUOYE.
As enthused by one of his admirers, the inaugural lecture will be “unique because it coincides with the retirement of Professor Olatunji, who will formally bow out the FUOYE service on Thursday, 28 May, 2026, when he would have clocked the mandatory 70 years permitted by the law for academics to remain in active service.”
He added that “Professor Olatunji will probably be one of the few lucky academics to have their inaugural lectures as parting gifts on the retirement eve. This type rarely happens and this makes this one a very exceptional occasion.”
The inaugural lecture, which will take place at the Senator Ndoma Egba Hall, FUOYE, will be presided over by the University’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Joshua Olalekan Ogunwole, at 2.00pm.
A 2004 Fellow of the Nigeria Institution of Estate Surveyors & Valuers (NIESV), Olatunji, who practiced ESV for over 20 years earlier, joined the academics in 2005 as Lecturer 2, and rose to the position of a full professor in 2020.
Once described as a “total researcher” by another Professor. J.I. Ighalo, he earned the appellation, “Pracademic” (a reference to someone who bridges the gap between practical experience and academic knowledge), because of his Practice-Based Teaching approach to his academic activities.
The unique professional and academic experience stood him out as one of the few individuals who first attained the highest professional height before coming to the academics where he rose to the pinnacle.
While in the service of FUOYE, Professor Olatunji applied research to real-world problems as demonstrated in the valuation exercise for the institution, where he led a team of valuers and other professionals in the Faculty of Environmental Design and Management (EDM), to advise the university on a critical real estate value decision.
He also assisted FUOYE to form a new policy with the creation of the Students Village Land Allocation and Development Committee (SVLADC) by the institution.
The orientation of Professor Olatunji was that in Nigeria’s housing sector, a ‘pracademic’ could help address challenges by combining research with on-the-ground experience to navigate and connect the worlds of theory and practice.
