86-Year-Old Retired Professor Returns To University Of Ibadan For Second PH.D

A retired professor of cell and molecular biology, Mark Nwagwu has returned to the University of Ibadan for a PhD in anthropology.

The 86-year-old  made the announcement in a Facebook post on Wednesday, the day he turned 86 where he noted that the staff welcomed him with songs that delighted him.

Nwagwu who bagged his first degree in zoology from the University of Ibadan in 1961 before earning a PhD from the University of Stockholm in 1965 said that he also registered for his PhD studies.

“This morning on my 86th birthday anniversary, I was at the Post-graduate School, University of Ibadan and registered for PhD studies in anthropology in the Institute of African Studies. The staff welcomed me with Happy Birthday songs to my delighted amazement,” he wrote.

Nwagwu was appointed assistant professor of cell and molecular biology at Brock University, Canada in 1969, rising to associate professor in 1973.

Affectionately called Uncle Mark, he retired from the University of Ibadan in 2012.

The Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Science is also a published poet and novelist.

His poetry is largely dedicated to his wife Professor Helen Nwagwu who died in 2018.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo and other eminent personalities were at the launch of Nwagwu’s Dream Dance: My Journey Through Life in Lagos last year.

Obasanjo was also at the launch of the professor’s Time Came Upon Me at the University of Ibadan in 2019.