The need for a more holistic approach to promoting sexual health education, access to comprehensive healthcare services, and the political will to address all forms of inequalities, were the crux of the matter at the 7th Abimbola Aina Omololu-Mulele Annual Lecture in Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
All roads led to the Old Great Hall, College of Medicine, University of Lagos (CMUL), Idi Araba, Lagos on Thursday, October, 30, 2025, where stakeholders across the academia and industry, as well as policymakers and invited secondary school students, converged in their numbers, to be part of the historic event held under the auspices of the Office of Advancement, University of Lagos and the Board of Trustees of the Abimbola Aina Omololu-Mulele Annual Lecture in Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
Welcoming the Audience
In their separate remarks to welcome the audience, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Professor Folasade Ogunsola, OON, FAS, represented by Professor Oluwole Familoni (former Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academics and Research/Chairman, Board of Trustees, Abimbola Aina Omololu-Mulele Endowment Annual Lecture) and Provost, College of Medicine, Professor Ademola Oremosu, appreciated the family of the Late Mrs. Abimbola Aina Omololu-Mulele, for their commitment to the Endowment Trust instituted by their late Matriarch over the past seven (7) years.
Professor Oluwole Familoni and Professor Daniel Odebiyi (Deputy Provost, CMUL) who represented the Provost, noted that the endowment has lived up to its mandate in promoting and advancing knowledge in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. They gave assurances of the university’s commitment to justifying the Trustees’ confidence, by making the best use of the fund to promote Obstetrics and Gynecology education in Nigeria.
In his remarks, the Chairman of the event, Professor Olalekan Abudu described the annual lecture as a timely invention which has created a platform for the exploration of contemporary issues affecting Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Nigeria. He described the Year 2025 topic as apt, due to the alarming rate of teenage/adolescent pregnancies and its daunting effects on the lives of victims.
The Lecture
In his presentation, titled: “Sexual and Reproductive Health Challenges Among Adolescents in Low and Middle-Income Countries”, the Guest Lecturer, Professor Ayodele Arowojolu, expressed concerns over research statistics which put the figure of adolescent pregnancies in low and middle income homes, over the last one decade, at 20 million. He attributed this development to the surge in sexual susceptibilities among adolescents and the gap in provision of contraceptive services.
The Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology highlighted several challenges faced by adolescents from low income countries such as: Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), social pressures, stigma, gender-related discrimination and sexual identity problems. Others include harmful traditional practices: early marriage, female genital mutilation, sexual coercion and intimate partner violence.
As a way out of the quagmire, the Guest Lecturer advocated increased sexual education to decrease the rate of adolescent sexuality, risky sexual behaviours and sexual violence.
Prof. Arowojolu also found the media culpable of overexposing adolescents to sexual content. He, therefore, stressed the need for controlled access to digital devices as well as mediation of media contents to manage the effects of media exposure among adolescents.
The Pro-Chancellor/Chairman, University of Medical Sciences, Ondo State shared his reservations on the effects of peer pressure and drug/substance abuse among adolescents as well as its effects on their mental health. He solicited a legal framework which will address all barriers and other sundry issues affecting the quality of lives of children in their adolescence.
Winner of the 2025 Omololu-Mulele Research Grant
The event featured the unveiling of Dr. Godwin Oyewumi (a Senior Resident, who sub-specializes in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital) as winner of the Abimbola Aina Omololu-Mulele 2025 Research Grant Award, worth Three Million Naira (N3,000,000.00). His work titled: The Effect of Open Myomectomy and Uterine Artery Occlusion with Torniquet on Ovarian Reserve: A Multi centre Prospective Longitudinal Study in Lagos earned him the award.
Winner of the 2024 Research Grant Award, Dr Saalu Terry Tersur (Senior Registrar, LUTH) also made a presentation of his research work.
Appreciation
Speaking on behalf of the family, Mrs. Brandi Austin-Mulele, appreciated the UNILAG Management and Board of Trustees of the Abimbola Aina Omololu-Mulele Annual Lecture for their commitment to the ideals and legacy of their late matriarch.
Late Chief Abimbola Aina Omololu-Mulele
Late Chief Frederica Abimbola Aina Omololu-Mulele, who died in 2009, was a lawyer, educationist and philanthropist par excellence. Her career spanned several years in the civil service as a Crown Counsel.
She founded the Abimbola Da-Rochas Afodu Omololu (ADRAO) International School in 1963 in demonstration of her passion for education, a legacy which moved to its present location on Ahmadu Bello Street, Victoria Island in 1964, and was formally opened by late Alhaji Tarawa Balewa, same year.
The Abimbola Aina Omololu-Mulele Annual Lecture in Obstetrics and Gynaecology is one of her two (2) endowments, worth Thirty-Six million Naira (N36, 000, 000.00) each, to the University of Lagos (UNILAG). As contained in her Will and Testament, the legacy gift demonstrates the deceased’s commitment to stimulating and advancing the frontiers of knowledge in Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
Report: Gbenga Gbelee
Photograph: Samuel Dosumu
