Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
A total of 343 students were awarded higher degrees of Doctor of Science, Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy of the University of Ibadan at the grand finale of the just-concluded 71st foundation day and convocation ceremonies of the institution.
Major General Mobolaji Adeleke Koleoso, who retired from the Nigerian Army in 2016 after close to 34 years of meritorious service, also bagged his PhD on the remarkable day.
Koleoso started his journey as a Grade II teacher before he proceeded to the University of Lagos, where he studied Mass Comminications. He was later enlisted into the Nigerian Army and his last command before his retirement at the age of 56 was the Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), Minna, Niger State.
The Ibadan-born General obtained his PhD at the Institute for Peace and Strategic Studies, UI. The topic of his thesis is: “Information Management by the Nigerian Army Contingents in the United Nations Peace Support in Liberia,” supervised by Dr Nathaniel Danjibo.
But how did he feel on bagging his PhD in UI? His response: “I give all the glory to God, who saw me through. One thing actually led me to start it. I had the opportunity of attending a course in the United Kingdom in 2013, which was sponsored by the Nigerian Army.
“During the talks by the professor invited to round off the course, he asked the question generally: ‘How do you live long after service?’ He said the last of us on the course would spend eight years more in the military. So, how do we see ourselves being happy, living long in good health after service?
“A lot of people raised up their hands, saying if you have enough investments and if you have enough money. But the professor, who was from the London School of Economics smiled. He told us that it is not everything they said that was true. He said to an extent, money could help you and to an extent, investments can help you.
“But principally, he said whenever we got back on flight, going back to our countries, once the fastened seatbelt was off, we should relax and recline out chairs and go back in retrospect to when we started our military career and we should trace it back to the moment we sat down in the plane.
“He said there would be some flashpoints, where we have the best satisfaction when we were in service and that we might be in one of the flashpoints at that time. And we might have been in such appointment before now, and we might have been in such appointment for two to three times in the past.
“But where we had our joy being full during service was what we should do after service and may be make a little money on top. He said during the cause of having such an appointment, we might be woken up by 12 midnight, but instead of feeling disturbed, we would be happy that we were recognised in what we are doing. And that if we continued doing such a thing that gave us the most joy during service, after service, and we can earn a little coin on top, it would give us the greatest joy and would be most beneficial to us after service.
“So, when that opportunity came, I took it, and I started thinking back on my military service. I realised that my highpoint really was when I was a Lieutenant and Captain at Depot Nigerian Army, leaving that place as an Adjutant to the commandant. In training, I spent 61 months at Depot Nigerian Army training recruits from all over the country. It gave me the opportunity of seeing everybody from all over the country. I trained recruits from every nook and cranny of Nigeria and it gave me joy.
“I can conveniently tell you now how an Ibadan man will behave under pressure of training. I can tell you how an Uyo man, the Calabar man, Gombe man will behave under training because we were that close to our recruits at the time. It gave me joy that I was given that opportunity to train. Then, I looked back on when I was a teacher. We called it directing staff, a member of faculty at the National Defence College. They gave me another opportunity then at the strategic level because my training of recruits at the depot was at the tactical level.
“At the strategic level, which is topmost level of the military, being given the opportunity again to teach those who are becoming generals was perhaps the greatest opportunity in the Army that I had. I took it seriously and for two and a half years that I was at the National Defence College as a member of the academic faculty, I found a lot of joy.
“I realised that if I leave the military service, I was going to fit in more where I share knowledge and I thought to myself, it is not the rank of a General of Nigerian Army that will bring me to share knowledge alone on its own. It will help me. But I can no longer teach at the primary school. I can no longer teach at the secondary level. I don’t like teaching at the college of education or the polytechnic that is being phased out.
“If I must belong to academic atmosphere, where should I start? I cannot belong into the academic world without having my PhD. That was when I returned home and I registered at the University of Ibadan during the 2012/2013 academic year. Immediately I retired from the Army on September 30, 2016, after the mandatory 56 years age maturity, I returned on October 1 from Minna back to Abuja. On October 2, I rested.
“By October 3, I resumed in the university as a full time student, and that is what has brought me to this level by the grace of God. I feel fulfilled.”
Koleoso attended ICC Primary School, Orita-Aperin, Ibadan and later, Ibadan Christ Apostolic Grammar School, Aperin-Oniyere from 1971 to 1975. He, however, met Prof Aderemi Akinade, who retired as Dean of the Postgraduate School, Lagos State University some years ago.
Akinade picked him up in 1975 and took him to where he was teaching at the Kabba Teachers’ College in the present day Kogi State for the one-year pivotal teachers’ training course, which he finished in 1976:
“When I finished, my first profession was teaching with my Teachers’ Grade II certificate until 1977. When I was admitted for Advanced Level Course at the School of Basic Studies of The Polytechnic Ibadan. I did the A-Level between 1977 and 1979.
“I got admitted immediately into the Mass Communications Department of University of Lagos. I finished there in June 1992, and went into National Youth Service (NYSC) at Ilorin in Kwara State from 1982 to 1983. It was in 1983 I joined the Nigerian Army.
He started his master’s degree in International Relations and Political Science in 1990, at Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Kaduna State, which he completed in 1994, when he returned from Yugoslavia. He was in Yugoslavia between June 1992 and June 1993:
“I served 33 years, six months and 15 days in the Nigerian Army, which was calculated for me for 34 years. During the cause of service, I have had immense opportunities and I am very grateful to the Nigerian nation, for opening that window unto me. I have gone on local and I have gone on overseas courses.
I have represented Nigeria in many fora. The last representation was when the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, was invited for the United States of American Army Annual Conference in October 2015, and he said I should stand in for him. I went to Washington DC and I represented the Nigerian Army. That was my last official outing before I retired in 2016.
“Apart from that, when I was in the National Defence College, we normally had what is called World Study Tour. I was team member to Algeria, France, Turkey and Lebanon. I had the advantage of leading a World Study Tour to the Republic of Sierra Leone and Burkina Faso in 2011.
“The tour coincided with the 50th anniversary of independence of Sierra Leone and it was a very nice outing. Nigeria was recognised and commended for all our efforts, both in peace and wartime in that country. It was a satisfying experience. I also had the opportunity of having courses in America, Britain, Germany, and Geneva. All these could not have been possible without serving my country in that capacity, for which I am always grateful.”