The Faculty of Engineering Board of Studies meeting was filled with celebration as Prof. Funso Falade, the Former Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Lagos and President of the African Engineering Education Association (AEEA), delivered his exaugural lecture ahead of his retirement from active service on Monday, February 5, 2024.
On Thursday, January 25, 2024, Prof. Falade delivered his lecture titled “The Beginning and End of a Project” at the Rahamon Adisa Bello Auditorium, UNILAG.
During the lecture, he shared his life journey, from his early years of farming with his parents to his pursuit of education, his brief stint in accounting and quantity surveying, and his eventual career as an academic at the University of Lagos.Prof. Falade also highlighted his contributions to his department, faculty, the university, and Africa as a whole.
However, he expressed his disappointment with the poor state of the Nigerian education sector. He noted that when he joined the university system in 1986, there were only 27 universities in Nigeria, but as of 2024, there were 262 universities, comprising 147 private, 52 federal, and 63 state universities.
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Despite this increase, Prof. Falade lamented the negative trends in funding, resources, and staff welfare in universities.
The exaugural lecture was a testament to Prof. Falade’s remarkable career as an academic and his dedication to the advancement of engineering education in Africa.
His words:
“The poor conditions of service including poor salary were among the reasons for my instability when I joined academics in 1986. I reached the bar of the professorial salary scale in 2011. My salary was N420,167.43. The exchange rate then was N155.71 to $1 in November 2011, meaning that my salary was $2,698.40. As I was finalizing this exaugural lecture on 22nd January 2024. My salary (take home) stood at N395,500.00 and the exchange rate was N1355 to a dollar showing that my salary in Dollar was $291.88 having spent more than twenty (20) years as a professor. What a tragic development!”
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