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CU holds Public Lecture on Building X-ray: The Anatomy of the Structure and Process

The solutions to contemporary occurrences of building collapse in most Nigerian cities and proper understanding of building behaviour and practice will be the main focus at Covenant University’s 11th Public Lecture on Thursday, March 29, 2007.

The lecture, titled, "Building X-ray: The Anatomy of the Structure and Process", will be delivered by a renowned building expert, Professor Timothy Olusoji Mosaku.

Professor Mosaku is currently Head of Department of Building Technology and Chair of the University’s Security Committee.

A Professor of Building since 1984, Professor Mosaku before joining Covenant University, was at various times the Dean of Faculty of Environmental Design and Head, Department of Building at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

Professor Mosaku has published widely in reputable outlets across the continents of the world. His research interests span across the fields of construction management, building performance and career in building.

The Public Lecture will be chaired by the Chancellor of Covenant University, Dr David Oyedepo, and the venue is the University Chapel, Canaan Land, Ota by 3.00 pm.

Brief Citation on Professor Timothy Olusoji Mosaku

Professor Timothy Olusoji Mosaku was born in the little village of MESAN behind Covenant University to the family of David Soetan Mosaku and Susan Olatoun Mosaku. It was at this little village that Professor Mosaku started his primary school education. The yardstick to determine school age then was that the right hand of the child desiring to enter school must pass over the head to touch his left ear. Soji (aka) "Ona omo ki iya e tun" nail was chubby boy and his fat hand took slightly longer time to grow long enough to touch his left ear, therefore he entered primary school behind his juniors whose hands were thinner and easily could wrap round their heads to touch their left ears. As a young boy Professor Mosaku earned his nickname being a very principled boy that everyone knew that any of his mates he had punished or disciplined must have been wrong and instead of questioning or punishing him for beating anyone up that person got beaten up again. He left the village for Abeokuta, his home town to complete his primary and secondary education in the fifties. He joined the services of the then Lagos Town Council as a Building/Health Inspector and rose to the rank of Senior Inspector before proceeding to the UK.

After passing his A' Levels and OND, he was admitted into the University of Leeds in Oct 1962 to read Civil Engineering. Until this time he had been a private student but had applied for Federal Government Scholarship to read Building. This application was granted but tenable at the Royal College of Advanced Technology, Salford, England. He had no choice but to transfer. He graduated in 1966 with Distinction as he made five of his seven final year papers in 'A' grades and the other two in B grades. He was offered admission to the University of Manchester, Institute of Science and Technology, Manchester, to read MSc in Structural Engineering. He also got admitted into the University of Birmingham to read for MSc in Work Design and Ergonomics. He opted for University of Birmingham and he finished in a year 1967 and returned to UMIST but no longer for Structural Engineering but for PhD in Construction Management and Building performance. The Federal Government was not favourably disposed to the arrangement of extending undergraduate scholarship to cover postgraduate study. He was recalled in 1968 but he had done enough on his studies for UMIST to decide to award him an MSc degree provided he could find practical application of his work in Nigeria in order to complete registration requirements. Arrangement was made with the University of Lagos to do this under the supervision of retired Prof. Omotayo Adeolu. The MSc in Construction Management was awarded by University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology with effect from 1968.

While under the arrangement with the University of Lagos, Professor Mosaku helped to prepare programmes of study for the School of Environmental Studies which include Architecture, Building, Quantity Surveying, and so on. These programmes are now being successfully run today and we have quality products of the programmes all around us even in our midst today.Professor Mosaku left the University to join a company briefly as Building Materials Sales Manager. He left this company to join Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1971 to establish the first Department of Building in Nigerian University. This Department has grown in stature and most of the professors of Building around today and a number of past and present presidents of the Nigeria Institute of Building were his past students.

Professor Mosaku was appointed Head, Department of Building, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in the session 1976/1977 as a Senior Lecturer and remained in that position for upward of twelve years. He was promoted Associate Professor in 1979 and became full Professor in 1984. He was elected Dean, Faculty of Environmental Design, for two terms in 1984. He had published extensively in the National and International journals numbering over 80 quality research works. He had delivered some public lectures on issues in Building including Career in Building, Building in Nation Building etc.

As Head of department at Ahmadu Bello University, Professor Mosaku, in 1979 put in place comprehensive postgraduate programmes in building leading to specialisations in Construction Management, Building Structures and Technology, Building Services Engineering, and Building Maintenance Management. Some of the beneficiaries of these programmes, including himself, for the award of MSc and PhD are in high places today in our Institutions of Higher Learning and industry. Professor Mosaku had supervised upward of seventeen (17) PhD, thirty(30) MSc, and numerous undergraduate projects. He had served as external examiner and external Assessor in most of Nigerian universities and Colleges where building programmes are being run and in a few places in Africa. Professor Mosaku had also served Ahmadu Bello University and the Federal Government in various other capacities before retiring in the year 2004. He is married with children.

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