The University of Ibadan will graduate a pair from the same department today (Thursday), Olawale Ajao and his wife, Alimot Ekundayo Omolaja.
The couple, both from the Department of Linguistics and African Languages, are among the 4,897 graduates to whom the Premier University will bestow Master’s Degree academic honors at the institution’s International Conference Centre.
Ajao and Omolaja, blessed with two children (Rahmattallahi Asawumi Ajao and (Abdul-Rahman Asagbayi Ajao), graduated from the leading university’s Department of Linguistics and African Languages for their first degrees in Yoruba and Linguistics, respectively.
Their love story began in 2015, when Omolaja, a final-year student, accepted Ajao’s love proposal.
Before enrolling in a degree program, Ajao already had an OND and HD in Mass Communication and worked as a writer.
When he met his wife, he was a 100-level student at the University of Ibadan.
Though Omolaja was three years ahead of her husband at the Master’s level, as she had been throughout their first-degree days, fate forced them to share the same graduation year due to the wife’s deferments on two occasions on maternal grounds.
Ajao, the reporter of Alaroye newspapers in Oyo State, is an exemplar and ambassador of Yoruba culture, tirelessly pushing for its preservation and promotion.
The journalist from Iwo, Osun State, has won various honors for his contributions to Yoruba culture.
The “Best Promoter of Yoruba Culture” award was given by the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Oyo State Chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists in 2012, and the “Most Culturally-Inclined Award” was given by the Association of Faculty of Arts Students at the University of Ibadan in 2017 and 2018.
He was also honoured with the “Award of Excellence on Propagation of Yoruba Language and Culture” by the Federation of Oyo State Students’ Union (FOSSU) in 2019 and the “Finalist of the Year” by the Yoruba Studies Students’ Association at the University of Ibadan in the same year.
The prizes recognize his passion and efficiency in promoting Yoruba culture.
The Alaroye’s correspondent has made a name for himself in the field of journalism, receiving the “Oyo State Youth Award in Journalism” in 2009 from the Oyo State Agency for Youth Development and the “Most Child Friendly Award” in 2019 from the Mediation Conciliation and Human Rights Centre.
He was recently named “Best Yoruba News Writer of the Year 2022” by the YOMAFA Global Award.
