“A goldfish has no hiding place”, a popular aphorism captures how the sterling qualities of outstanding individuals in society make them rise to the top like cream.
And, fittingly, this succinctly describes Obafemi Awolowo University’s (OAU) alumnus, Gbenga Elegbeleye, who has carved a niche for himself in leadership, man-management, politics and sports administration.
His robust and impressive profile recently prompted EduRank to list him among OAU’s 72 notable graduates.
By aggregated alumni prominence, OAU is 792 in the world; 17th in Africa and 4th in Nigeria. According to Erudera, the world’s first education search platform, there are 23,626 universities in the world while UniRank’s database enumerates the number of universities in Africa and Nigeria to be 1,279 and 162 respectively. So, if you are ranked by OAU, that definitely counts for something.
EduRank considered the famous alumni of the institution based on the content of their wiki pages, popularity and overall accomplishments.
Not in any order of eminence, Elegbeleye was named in 59th, with the compendium also recognizing former state governors, past and serving ministers as well as accomplished entrepreneurs, dons, members of the bar and bench among others.
Former Ondo State governor, Olusegun Mimiko; his two-time counterpart from Osun, Olagunsoye Oyinlola; Ogun State’s helmsman, Dapo Abiodun; Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu; septuagenarian former Communications Minister; Adebayo Shittu and Abike Dabiri-Erewa were some of the other prominent Nigerians recognized by the publication’s ranking.
In the same vein, Chief Judge of Nigeria, Justice Olukayode Ariwoola; human rights activist, Mike Ozekhome; African Development Bank President, Akinwumi Adesina; former International Court of Justice prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda and Erelu Bisi Fayemi, wife of former Ekiti State governor received similar recognition.
Some of the others are actress Omotola Jalade-Ekehinde, film actor and director, Akin Lewis; finance expert, Oscar Onyema and Funke Opeke, the CEO of Main One Cable, a submarine communications cable stretching from Portugal to South Africa.
Gbenga Elegbeleye, while in his 30s was the chairman of Akoko North West Local Government Area of Ondo State and Chairman, Ondo State Waste Management Authority. Buoyed by his remarkable performance, he was elected into the House of Representatives in 2007.
Leveraging his commitment and performance as Vice-Chairman, House Committee on Sports, President Goodluck Jonathan appointed him Director-General of National Sports Commission in 2013.
A year later, Elegbeleye led Nigeria to the country’s best outing at the Commonwealth Games with 11 gold, 11 silver and 14 bronze medals in Glasgow, Scotland.
In the same year, he was in in Gaborone, Botswana steering Nigeria to an unprecedented 3rd position at the 2014 African Youth Games with 41 medals.
Today, he is the Chairman of the Nigeria Premier Football League, under whose charge the elite professional league has improved in leaps and bounds. Notable is the successful transition of the start date of the league from early in the year to August to synchronize with the rest of the world, a nut that his predecessors were unable to pull out of the fire for almost 10 years.
Last month, he was in Spain to broker a deal – on behalf of NPFL – with Seville on youth soccer development.
Honour to whom honour is owed!
