A Professor of Analytical Chemistry at the University of Lagos, Professor Olusegun Ayejuyo has challenged Nigerian universities to strategically scale up activities connected to analytical chemistry, to unlock new streams of internally revenue generation (IGR).
He stated this while delivering his inaugural lecture on Wednesday, December 3, 2025 at the J.F. Ade. Ajayi (Main) Auditorium, UNILAG. The inaugural lecture titled Analytical Techniques in Chemical Trials: Evidence and the Verdict was the 450th series in UNILAG and 4th in the 2025/2026 academic session.
Click here for access to the Inaugural lecture via the University of Lagos Repository link.
According to Prof. Ayejuyo, ivory towers in Nigeria will benefit more if they explore potentials in Analytical Chemistry while improving the capacity of laboratory personnel with a view to keeping them abreast of trends in other research-oriented climates.
In the course of the lecture, Prof. Ayejuyo highlighted the indispensability of Analytical Chemistry in determining the chemical composition of samples, using instruments and techniques to separate, identify, and quantify matters.
The inaugural lecturer gave a detailed breakdown of techniques for detecting, identifying, and quantifying active ingredients in drug formulations, nutritive values of raw and processed food products, emerging traces and priority organic contaminants in multimedia samples.
He suggested ways to improve these techniques to meet the pressing demands for a faster, cheaper, more sensitive, and more selective chemical measurements in a variety of substances.
Prof. Ayejuyo noted that the analytical data generated via the developed and deployed techniques could be adopted for use in the pharmaceutical, food and beverages industries, environmental monitoring and remediation by enhancing and addressing policies on product quality and standards, food security and safety, chemical hazards and risks assessment among others.
While expressing concerns over the state of laboratories in many public institutions, the Professor of Analytical Chemistry called for partnership and collaboration among stakeholders to refurbish, build and equip state-of-the-art laboratories.
The inaugural lecturer also stressed the need for regulatory bodies such as the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) to be strengthened as part of efforts to improve their oversight functions and enforcement in the face of substandard and deceptively labeled products.
About Professor Olusegun Opeyemi Ayejuyo
Born in Ikole-Ekiti on the 5th of August, 1962, Professor Olusegun Opeyemi Ayejuyo is an alumnus of the University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State, where he earned his first degree in Chemistry in 1985. He bagged a Master of Science Degree (1987) and Doctorate in Analytical Chemistry Degree (1995) from the University of Ibadan as well as a Diploma in Environmental Management from the Galilee Institute of Management, Misra, Israel in 2008.
Professor Ayejuyo joined the services of the University of Lagos in 2006 as a Lecturer and rose to become a Professor of Analytic Chemistry in 2015. He has spent the last three decades contributing to research in the field of Analytical and Environmental Chemistry.
With over 70 publications, he has won and managed three TetFund grants, both as team member and principal investigator. His works have received 2063 citations and an i10-index of 37 on Google Scholar.
At various times, Professor Ayejuyo has served as Course Adviser, Postgraduate Coordinator, immediate past Head of Department of Chemistry, Acting Dean of Faculty of Science, Chairman of Faculty of Science BMAS Review Committee, and Consulting Analytical/Environmental Chemist to UNILAG Consult, among others. He has mentored over 120 Postgraduate students including five PhD candidates.
Outside the University, the renowned Professor of Analytic Chemistry has served as Chairman, Standard Organisation of Nigeria Committee on Draft Standards for Alcoholic Drinks and member of African Regional Standardization Organization based in Kenya. He has also served as Visiting Professor, Covenant University, Ota as well as External Examiner and Assessor for tertiary institutions such as University of Ibadan; Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State; University of Benin, Benin-City; Walter Sisulu University, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore-India, University of Botswana, Botswana; University of South Africa, and The University of The West Indies, Trinidad & Tobago.
Professor Ayejuyo is a member of the Chemical Society of Nigeria and Royal Society of Chemistry. His experience has been explored in reviewing manuscripts for publication in Journal of the American Oil Chemists’ Society; Fresenius Journal of Analytical Chemistry, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment; and Journal of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology and Analytical Letters. He is the current Editor-in-Chief of the Faculty of Science Journal of Scientific Research and Development, and Review Editor, Frontiers in Environmental Science-Toxicology, Pollution and the Environment.
Professor Olusegun Opeyemi Ayejuyo is happily married and the union is blessed with lovely children.
For access to the Inaugural Lecture, kindly click here for the University of Lagos Repository Link.
Report: Gbenga Gbelee
Photograph: Ayomide Oloyede
