World Teacher’s Day: Celebrating my Teacher, Mojeed Lawal @ 70

World Teacher’s Day: Celebrating my Teacher, Mojeed Lawal @ 70

By Tunde Akanni

This year’s World Teachers’ Day takes on a special glow for us.

From the first generation of students of the great Ede Muslim Grammar School including the sitting Governor of Osun State, Ademola Adeleke, to several cohorts of the students of the Osun State Polytechnic as well as numerous admirers of Dr. Mojeed Adekunle Lawal, today presents a most auspicious opportunity to applaud and celebrate a most inspiring TEACHER, leader and mentor. It’s another World Teachers Day.

Mr Lawal, Boda Mojeed or Baba Lawal, depending on which generation of his beneficiaries you belong, made yet another history this year. Al-Hikmah University found our great mentor most fitting for the award of Doctor of Philosophy in Peace and Security Studies. He is therefore henceforth better referred to as Dr Majeed Lawal alternatively Majeed Lawal, PhD.

Incidentally, Dr Lawal had produced PhD holders before he eventually decided to formally seek one. His isn’t a honorary thing either. Demystifying the hindrances of age related challenges as well as social inhibitions of multiplying responsibilities, our Oga chose to go do all the sweating of infinite fact seeking and verification, otherwise called research, to bag his PhD.

Far from being boastful, on the 3rd of April 2025 he modestly announced this to me via a short whatsapp message: “Salaam. I am happy to inform you that I completed my PhD program yesterday. Alhamdulilahi” I echoed alhamdulilah at my end too and felt filled up with joy. “Congratulations sir. A dupe f’Olohun o! We can’t thank Allah enough…”

At the height of the excitement, I put a call through to Boda immediately. The officialdom dating back to 1976 when he taught us history has since given way. He excused that to inspire us so we could relate more informally as he monitored our progress through to our final year at EMGS even as he was away in Zaria where he did his first degree.
“Oo gbo, ko rorun but I’d resolved I wanted the PhD. I willingly surrendered to all the traumatic back and forth directives from my supervisor and the countless attendees of PhD seminar series. But here we are today. The experience is worth it. Respect to all PhD holders” Dr. Lawal said as I smiled away at my end thankful to Allah for this spectacular, one in town, one in a generation accomplishment.

The call over, my mind flashed back to the combined discipline and industry this great teacher had demonstrated when he taught us History. His scholarly recall of the great empires of the past was as engaging as inspiring, leading us to, with annotated maps, do virtual exploration of Rivers Tigris and Euphrates, unknown to us that he had never gone near the historic region.

Often donning short sleeve shirts combined with wool trousers atop his favourite skull half shoes, Boda was endowed with such a sonorous voice so endearing that it could be mistaken for a woman’s. Although a holder of Ordinary Level Certificate at that time, we had thought he would teach us further in 1978. That was the same year Oga left for Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, Zaria for his Bachelor’s degree. Most incontrovertibly however, our teacher’s life remains a living textbook of resilience, leadership, and lifelong learning.

As a lecturer at Osun State Polytechnic, Iree, from 1999 until his retirement in 2020, Dr. Lawal left deep footprints across two departments—General Studies and Mass Communication. He taught courses ranging from Sociology of the Family to Mass Media and Society, always reminding his students that knowledge was not just to be acquired but something to be applied with conscience. His service went beyond classrooms: he chaired committees, directed programmes, mentored young academics, and carried the responsibility of leadership with humility.

What makes his story more remarkable today is that retirement did not mark the end of his learning journey. Instead, it opened a fresh chapter. At 70, the age when most people would prefer to look back somewhat complacent, Dr. Lawal looked forward—bagging a PhD.. His doctoral thesis on Conflict-sensitive reportage of political and religious conflicts in Osun State is not only a testament to his scholarship but also his enduring commitment to peace, justice, and society’s well-being.

With all the unsettling, all-pervading disturbances, who can deny the strong for his expertise that would be supportive of the government of his former student, now Governor of Osun State.
Through decades of service, publications, and conference engagements that took him as far as Toronto and Baltimore, Dr. Lawal consistently demonstrated that teaching is not a career but a calling. His writings on conflict, communication, culture, and development continue to enrich scholarship and guide practice in Nigeria and beyond.

As we celebrate World Teachers’ Day, we do so with immense pride in a man who has lived the creed of education: to lead, to serve, and to learn without end. Dr. Lawal’s life reminds us that the best teachers do not retire—they evolve. Our own Mr Lawal has evolved from being simply Mr Lawal to Dr Lawal. The world in this age of internet laced with the virality of social media with the accompanying speed should take note in due reverence to our inimitable Dr Majeed Adekunle Lawal.

To a relentless leader, a relentless learner, and a relentless teacher—we say: Happy Teachers’ Day, Dr. Mojeed Adekunle Lawal. May your story continue to inspire generations yet to come especially as you often speak well of your own teachers too.

During a recent conversation, Dr Lawal lamented the recent death of a primary school teacher of his popularly known as Imam Dende, until recently the oldest of all imams of central mosques in Osun State. Imam Dende had taught Dr Lawal at the renowned Young Tajudeen Agbangudu Primary School, Ede, Osun State. According Dr Lawal, Imam Dende’s former students include Professor Iysa Ade Bello, pioneer Sharia Law scholar at the Lagos State University and the University of Osun State, now Chairman of the Governing Council of Federal University, Wukari, Taraba State.

Born in Ede on March 25, 1955, Dr. Lawal has spent his seven decades shaping minds, nurturing futures, and exemplifying what it means to be a teacher for life. His thirst for knowledge has taken him through the lecture halls of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and later the University of Ibadan, where he honed his passion for communication, journalism, and sociology. But it was not just his degrees—Bachelor’s, Master’s, Diploma, and eventually Doctorate—that defined him. It is the way he has been teaching, leading, and inspiring.

The writer, Tunde Akanni, is a Journalism and Development Communication Professor at LASU.