Prof Joshua Ogunwole: The Abusite Transforming Bowen University

Prof Joshua Ogunwole is a full-blooded Abusite and soil scientist with a broad background in sustainable agriculture, soil ecology, soil and water conservation, nutrient cycling and soil carbon sequestration who currently serves as the 4th substantive vice-chancellor of Bowen University.

Joshua O Ogunwole was born in Ibadan on 23 July 1967. He has a trinity of degrees from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria; a B.S (Agriculture), M.S and Ph.D. in Soil Science, all from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Between the year 1990 – 1992 and served as manager of Yula farm, Kaduna.

He started lecturing at his Alma mater in 1994, rose through the ranks and became the Head of Department of Soil Science of the school between May 2012 – Dec 2013.

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Prof Joshua Ogunwole taught in the Department of Crop Production and Protection, Federal University, Dutsin-Ma between Dec 2013 – Mar 2016, and served as Director of the University Advancement and Linkages.

He was a Professor of Soil Physics, Department of Soil Science & Land Resource Management, Federal University Oye-Ekiti, where he was the head of the Department of Water Resources and Agrometeorology until his appointment as a Vice-Chancellor of Bowen University in 2018. 

Prof Joshua Ogunwole has more than 20 years’ experience in dryland farming, irrigation, and agroecology with research and expertise in soil quality improvement for raising ecosystem productivity and strengthening the resilience of rural agrarian communities in North, East and West Africa.

He received in 2004, a Research Merit Award for Sustainable Agriculture from the Schweisfurth Foundation and Support Africa International of Germany.

He was a recipient of the CSIR/TWAS Postdoctoral Award to Central Salt Marine Chemical Research Institute (CSMCRI), Bhavanagar, India in 2006/2007; the prestigious J. Williams Fulbright Research Scholar Award in 2009-2010 at Pennsylvania State University, USA.

Prof Joshua Ogunwole also secured a TWAS-UNESCO Associate-ship Award (2010-2013) to co-study soil quality changes under the Nile River Basin Challenge Programme at the International Water Management Institute in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

He was a Regular Associate of the revered Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste-Italy (several visits between year 2010-2017). He recently concluded an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship at the Leibniz University Hanover, Germany (2014-2015).

In 2012, at Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, he successfully organized an International Workshop on Soil Physical Processes in West Africa.

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He was admitted in 2015 into the College of Research Associates of the United Nations University-Institute for Natural Resource for Africa. Joshua has extensive experience in providing academic inputs for the in-Africa delivery of eight Australia Awards Africa Fellowships and Short Courses. 

Research papers and articles

Prof Joshua Ogunwole has published over 60 research papers in peer reviewed journals and conference proceedings in the area of soil & water agriculture, biofuel feedstock agriculture, irrigation and structural stability assessment in soils. Notable among them are:

• contribution of Jatropha curcas to soil quality improvement in a degraded Indian entisol.
• Soil organic carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus distribution in stable aggregate of an Ultisol under contrasting land use and management history.

He has also taught several courses and led research on legumes and oilseeds-based crops in the drylands.

Projects include:

• Tracking the fate of pulse-labeled carbon and nitrogen in Pearl Millet residues, freshly incorporated, into soils
• Evaluation of Maize-Desmodium-Soybean Cropping Effect on Soil Quality and Crop Yields in an Alfisols of Northern Guinea Savanna, Nigeria (which he researched with other six professors).
• He is also one of the eight collaborators on the research project titled Soil properties Characterisation

Prof Joshua Ogunwole married Esther Adebimpe in October 1997 and the union has been blessed with beautiful children. A basket-baller and promoter of education, Joshua loves reading, traveling and socializing.