Campus News

Meet UNILORIN’s First Female Professor of Animal Production, Foluke Eunice Sola-Ojo, Ph.D., RAS, MISAG!

Prof. Foluke Eunice Sola-Ojo is a native of Ogbomoso in Ogbomoso South Local Government Area of Oyo state. She was born to the Late Chief Paul Oyeyemi and Mrs Esther Omolola Iyabo Opawande of Ile Nla Baale Ayegun, Ogbomoso. She had her primary education at Baptist Day School Oko-Ogbomoso and proceeded to secondary school at Baptist Secondary Grammar School Oko-Ogbomoso where she graduated as the overall best student in 1991. 

She gained admission to the University of Ilorin in 1993 and earned her Bachelor of Agriculture with second class Upper Division in 2000. She had a Master’s and Ph.D in Animal production in 2004 and 2010, respectively from the University of Ilorin. 

She was the first female Quality Control Manager of Feed Masters Limited where she rose through the rank of Technical Manager to Plant Manager in 2007. She joined the services of the University of Ilorin on the 16th of June, 2008 as an Assistant Lecturer, and rose to become a full Professor in October 2023. 

Prof. Foluke Sola-Ojo’s Ph.D thesis was awarded the best thesis in the field of Agriculture by the National University Commission under the Nigerian Doctoral Thesis award Scheme in the year 2010.

Her core areas of interest are quantitative, genomics diversity, and molecular evolution. Her Molecular research prowess received a boost from Pacific Biosciences (PACBIO) under a single-molecule real-time sequencing (SMRT) grant for reagents and services in 2020, and the Illumina team (USA) under the Illumina Agricultural Greater Good Initiative grant program in 2021. 

Prof. Foluke Sola-Ojo is a beneficiary of the Chinese Academy of Sciences President’s International Fellowship Initiative support grant, the Sino-Africa Joint Research Centre of the Chinese Academy of Science, the Animal Branch of the Germplasm Bank of Wild Species, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Large Research Infrastructure Funding with Dr.Adeniyi Charles Adeola of Kunming Institute of Science, China. 

She has won full and supporting travel grants to Kenya, Ghana, Sweden, and Spain to mention a few, and has attended several workshops and conferences at the Local and National levels.

Prof. Foluke Sola-Ojo has trained over 100 graduate and postgraduate students in Animal Production, and in 2023 three of her project students won a full travel grant to present the results of molecular genetic diversity of different poultry species in Cape Town, South Africa. 

She became the first female Head of the Department of Animal Production in July 2023, and the first female Professor of Animal Production at the University of Ilorin, in October 2023. Having over 70 publications in local, national, and international peer-reviewed journals to her credit, she has also served as a reviewer or in the editorial team of some journals. 

Presently, she is serving the University as a member of the Molecular and Diagnostic Research Laboratory, Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprises (IDICE) proposal development committee and she is the Chairperson of the Technical Committee on Developing and Implementing Innovative Entrepreneurship Certification. 

Prof. Foluke Sola-Ojo is a member of the International Society of Animal Geneticists, the World Poultry Science Association, the Poultry Science Association, the Nigerian Society for Animal Production, the Nigerian, Animal Science Association of Nigeria, and Nigerian Women in Agricultural Research and Development. She is an entrepreneur, and the International Coordinator for the African Support Bureau for Entrepreneurship (ASBE).  

She presented the 268th Inaugural lecture of the University of Ilorin on the 7th November, 2024. The lecture was titled “The Beauty and Beast in Genetic Diversity”. 

Professor Foluke Sola-Ojo has the distinction of being the University of Ilorin’s first female professor of Animal Production.