Prof. Lateef Folorunsho Oladimeji was born on 9th April, 1963 in Lagos to the family of Late Chief Imam Alh. Oseni Oladimeji and Alhaja Muneerat Oladimeji. He hails from Doyin Compound of Oko-Ode in Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State. The first son of his parents, Prof. Oladimeji is the 3rd of the thirteen children of his late father.
Educational Background:
After Post-Primary Education, Lateef Oladimeji proceeded to Lagos Secondary Commercial Academy (LASCA), Obakoro. He was the first student to register for IRK in the School and made A2 in 1981 West African School Certificate (WASC). Later, he went to the University of Ilorin in 1983 where he obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree (B.A. Hons.) with Second Class Honours (Upper Division) in Islamic Studies. Again, he was the best student in Islamic Studies during the 1987 Convocation and was thus given the Islamic Publications Bureau Award for the year. For this feat, Lateef Folorunsho Oladimeji was retrained in his Department (Religions) Faculty of Arts for the mandatory National Youth Services (NYSC) Programme in 1987/88 service year. He also won the Unilorin Postgraduate Scholarship Award which enabled him pursued and successfully completed his Master of Arts degree (M.A.) in Islamic Studies, 1989.
Furthermore, Lateef Folorunsho Oladimeji enrolled and successfully completed another Master degree in Public Administration (MPA), in 1995 for his organization and leadership qualities, he was the elected Pioneer Director-General (D.G.) of the Association of Master of Public Administration Students (AMPAS) for the 1994/95 Academic year. In addition, he enrolled and successfully completed his Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) in 2000 and to cap it all, he bagged his Doctor of Philosophy degree (Ph.D.) in Islamic Studies in 2005, all from the University of Ilorin, Nigeria. He rose through the rank to become a professor of Islamic Studies in 2018, thus becoming one of the home-grown professors of Al-Hikmah University.
Career Development:
Prof. Oladimeji began his teaching career at Crescent Nursery and Primary School, Victoria Island in 1981 as a Junior Staff teaching Arabic and Islamic Studies. After his University Education, he worked briefly with the People’s Bank of Nigeria as filed officer before joining the service of the Kwara State College of Education, Oro as Assistant Lecturer in 1992. He rose through the rank to the position of Principal Lecturer and Head of Department of Islamic Studies and was there up till 2006 when he voluntarily withdrew his service form the College to join the newly established Al-Hikmah University as Lecturer I. He was one of the few pioneer staff and member of the senate of the University since its inception.
Academic Publications:
To date, Prof. L.F. Oladimeji has 53 Academic Publications from Journals, (14 Nos) Local, National and International as well as 24 Nos chapter in Books to his credit. He also has 3 Nos Instructional materials used by undergraduate students of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) on Qur’an and Hadith as well as study materials (Pack) for Diploma Students of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM) to his credit. For International recognition some of Prof. Oladimeji’s publications were cited in the 2009 Bulletin of the African Association for the Study of Religions (AASR), based in Botswana.
Membership of Professional Bodies:
Prof. Oladimeji belonged to the following Academic and Professional Bodies both within and outside Nigeria:
Public Service
Professor Oladimeji served two terms as Executive Secretary of the Kwara State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, first in 1995 – 1998 and secondly in year 2002 – 2003 under the Military Governors, Group Captain Baba Adamu Iyam and Col. Peter Ogar.
Hobby:
His hobby includes Driving, Reading and Table Tennis.