Professor Olalekan O. Banwo: Exemplary Scholar and Role Model
Professor Olalekan O. Banwo is an exemplary Scholar, Role Model, and distinguished Abusite. He is a renowned professor of plant virology and the current Head of Department of Crop Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, ABU Zaria.
Professor BANWO hails from Offa, Kwara State, and was born in Kaduna in the late 60s. His early education commenced at the Local Education Authority (LEA) Sabon-Gari Primary School, Kaduna (1973-1976).
He completed his primary education at the Kaduna Capital School, Isa Kaita Road (1976-1979), then rated amongst the best in the state for its academic excellence. He attended the Federal Government College, Malali, Kaduna (1979-1984) for his secondary school education.
After his secondary education, the young Olalekan proceeded to the School of Basic Studies (SBS), Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1984, and successfully sat for the Interim Joint Management Board (IJMB) examinations.
He later obtained admission into the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, the premier university in northern Nigeria that is internationally acclaimed as a centre of academic excellence.
Prof. Banwo graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture (B. Agric.), obtained a Second Class Upper degree classification, delivered the best undergraduate Research Project Report submitted to the Department of Crop Protection and also emerged as the best graduating student with B. Agric. (bias for Crop Protection) and second-best overall in Crop Science option in the class of 1989.
He served his country through the mandatory National Youth Service Scheme (NYSC) and carried out his primary assignment at the Olotu Farms, Ado-Ekiti, in the then Ondo State, south-west Nigeria (1989-1990), where he demonstrated his prowess in the classroom in practical farm management and community development.
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His exceptional performance and dexterity reflected a combination of personal ingenuity and qualitative training received from the reputable University.
Upon the completion of the one-year service, he had impacted so impressively on the Farm and its community that, he not only won an award for the best youth corps member in Ado-Ekiti Local Government Area of the state, he was also given immediate employment as the pioneer Farm Manager of Olotu Farms, a position he held until 1992.
Prof Banwo’s quest for knowledge and aspiration to contribute to research and learning coincided with a University’s ability to identify brilliance and intellect that can contribute to her pursuit of excellence.
The result was an invitation to him by his alma mater, the Ahmadu Bello University, to join her budding cream of lecturers and researchers. Consequently, in 1992, he took up an appointment as an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Crop Protection, Faculty of Agriculture of the same University.
He later obtained his M.Sc. in Crop Protection from the University of Bath, United Kingdom (1995), where he again submitted an award-winning Dissertation. He proceeded to complete his Ph.D. in Plant Virology from the Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania (2002) working on Luteoviruses and Sobemoviruses respectively.
He has since then devoted himself to teaching and research in the Department of Crop Protection, Faculty of Agriculture/ Institute for Agricultural Research, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he cut his teeth as an academic.
He teaches courses mainly in Plant Virology, Pest and Disease Management, Epidemiology & Modelling and Biotechnology at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He rose through the ranks to become a professor of plant virology in 2009.
He had served as the Departmental Seminar Coordinator, Postgraduate Coordinator and is currently the Head of that Department.
Professor Banwo has published 70 scientific research papers in peer-reviewed professional national and international impact factored journals. Many of these publications are featured in international journals published outside of Africa and spread across every other continent of the world.
He has also presented over 60 scientific and invited papers at conferences locally and internationally. The outcomes of his research have contributed immensely to practices adopted in the management of rice yellow mottle disease and diseases of other crops.
He has mentored several students at undergraduate, M.Sc. and Ph.D. levels, who currently work in different spheres of endeavors. Prof. Banwo has contributed meaningfully to both academic and non-academic aspects of University life.
He has served on several university committees. These include: Iya Abubakar Centre Advisory Committee (2003-2005), University Security Committee (2004-2006), University Farms Evaluation Committee (2004-2011), Junior Staff Disciplinary Committee (2013-2017) and Asst Hall Adviser Danfodio Hall (2009-2011), University Work Ethics Committee (2014-2016) and has been a member of the Ahmadu Bello University Senate since 2007.
The mutual bond between School and Scholar nurtured by the shared values of quality, integrity and excellence has also seen the benefits of Prof Banwo’s academic prowess, extend to the University that at the outset provided him the conducive environment to hone his skills.
His work attracted donations of books worth USD 3,600 from the German Research Society (DFG), Bonn, Germany to Ahmadu Bello University in 2005. He also successfully attracted to the University, the DAAD Technical grant of USD 4,200 in 2003 and USD 7,500 in 2015. He also obtained for the University the Alexander von Humboldt Equipment grant of USD 23,000 in 2011 and USD 25,000 in 2019.
Beyond the immediate walls of his University, he also contributed to the improvement in the quality of tertiary education on a national scale. He has served on National Universities Commission and National Board for Technical Education accreditation panels evaluating programmes in Agriculture in Universities and Polytechnics in Nigeria.
He has also served as an external examiner for B. Agric., M.Sc and Ph.D candidates in several universities and also assessed people from a number of universities for promotion to Readership and Professorship cadres. He was a Visiting Professor to Usmanu Danfodiyo University from 2010 to 2016.
At the international level, he has been a Visiting Scientist to the Institute of Arable Crops Research (IACR) Rothamsted, UK (1994), German Collection of Micro-organisms and Cell cultures (DSMZ), Germany (2001-2002; 2007-2008) and Arkansas Biosciences Institute (ABI) of Arkansas State University, USA (2011-2012).
He is a recipient of several international scholarships, fellowships and awards. The major ones are those from the British Overseas Development Administration /Commonwealth in 1994, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in 1998, the highly competitive German Alexander von Humboldt in 2007 and the very prestigious United States Senior Fulbright in 2011.
These awards have impeccable pedigrees and low success rates. Winning both the Alexander von Humboldt and Fulbright awards (which have respectively produced 62 and 59 Nobel Laureates) by an individual is not very common.
His sustained success in obtaining competitive scholarships, fellowships, awards, grants from predoctoral to postdoctoral level further attest to his status as an extraordinary scholar possessing the capacity, competence and character for high quality and relevant research that meets internationally accepted standards such as is taught and promoted by the University of his root.
In recognition of his outstanding contributions to the field of Crop Protection, Prof. Banwo was elected a Fellow of two highly coveted and reputable international bodies, namely, the African Scientific Institute (2011), an Association of accomplished scientists of African descent either at home or in diaspora and that of the prestigious Royal Society of Biology, U.K. (2016).
The fellowship cadre of the Royal Society of Biology is known to be one of the highest honors that can be bestowed upon an African researcher in the field of biosciences. Other international and local fellowships/awards to his credit include:
- BecA and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Fellowship to attend the Agricultural Research Connections Workshop in Nairobi, Kenya (2014).
- Kirkhouse Trust (U.K) Conference Award in June, 2012.
- International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) Workshop Fellowship to Italy (2008).
- International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB, Italy) Workshop Fellowship to Pakistan (2006).
- International Sorghum/Millet Collaborative Research Support Project (INTSORMIL-CRSP, Nebraska, U.S.A.) award for research excellence among young scientists in the Department of Crop Protection, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria (2004).
- DAAD Short Term Research Scholarship to undertake Molecular Studies in DSMZ, Braunschweig, Germany, October, 2001- January, 2002.
- National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) Award for the best youth corps member, Ado-Ekiti Local Government, Ondo State, Nigeria (1990).
- Prof H. Caswell Prize for the best undergraduate Project Report submitted to the Crop Protection Dept, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria for the B. Agric. Programme (1989).
- Cotton and Agricultural Processors (C.A.P.) Limited Prize for the best undergraduate student in the B. Agric. Programme with the highest aggregate grade in Crop Protection and Agricultural Extension Methods 1988.
His research interests include plant virus epidemiology, the use of gene constructs to confer resistance against plant viruses and integrated disease management. He has worked on crops like Rice, Cassava, Yam, Sorghum, Pepper, Tomato, Maize, Irish and Sweet potatoes, Cocoyam, Jatropha, Barley, etc.
His research work discovered a new strain of Rice yellow mottle virus (RYMV) (currently named S6 strain) which causes a very devastating disease on rice in Africa, development of resistant gene constructs offering resistance against plant virus diseases, the first record of the existence of a new species of Chaetocnema (Chaetocnema sp. near varicosis) and the first report of Dactylispa lenta as a vector of RYMV.
Prof. Banwo is a member of several honorific international and national professional societies. These include: American Phytopathological Society (APS), Society for In-vitro Biology (SIVB), International Society for Plant Protection (ISPP), International Association of Plant Protection Sciences (IAPPS), African German Network for Excellence in Science (AGNES), Arkansas Center for Plant-Powered Production (P3) and African Studies Association.
He is the current Publicity Secretary of the Nigerian Society for Plant Virology (NSPV) and was recently appointed Chairman Research Committee of the Nigerian Society for Plant Protection (NSPP).
His quest for academic excellence, self-giving for ground-breaking research and passion for teaching and learning has seen him travel far and wide. Besides the UK, Tanzania, Germany, and the USA, he has also visited Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, France, Austria, Italy, United Arab Emirates, Pakistan and in Africa: Niger Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Togo, Ethiopia and Kenya in the course of his research endeavours.
Prof. Olalekan Banwo is an erudite and extra-ordinary scholar of invaluable proportions. He is an exemplary and thoroughbred scientist. His proficient, productive and impactful teaching and academic mentoring strides are legendary.
His research outcomes have contributed to practical solutions in the pursuit of food security and his contribution to research and learning in his chosen field of crop protection is exemplary.
The excellence, quality, character and competence that accompany his sustained performance reflect the best of the Abusite and perfectly exemplifies the vision and aspirations of the founding fathers of that citadel of learning – Ahmadu Bello University, an institution reputed to have produced some of the greatest minds that have shaped the development of Nigeria and elsewhere.
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