25-year-old emerges youngest Ph.D holder in Babcock Varsity

The story of how she was successfully awarded a doctorate degree in Business Information, at 25, will forever linger in the hearts of Opeyemi Deborah Sodipe, an illustrious daughter  of Ake in Abeokuta-South Local Government Area of Ogun State.
It was at the 10th convocation ceremony of Babcock University (BU), Ilisan-Remo, Ogun State, held on  Sunday. As early as 9.00am, the university’s Stadium Complex was  filled to the brim with the crème de la crème of Ogun State, the Seventh Day Adventist Church (SDA), management and staff of BU, parents, students, families, friends, well-wishers and guests who came from within and across the country.
Words of encomium were showered on Opeyemi. She also received handshakes from the President/Vice Chancellor, BU, Prof. Kayode Makinde; and Benjamin Carson (Snr.), foremost paediatric and neurosurgeon, who was the first doctor to successfully operate on Siamese twins.
Born on August 14, 1986 in Ibadan where her parents live, Opeyemi is the third in a family of four of Mr. David and Mrs. Deborah Sodipe, accountant and teacher respectively.
She attended Omolara Nursery & Primary School, Ibadan, where she had her First School Leaving Certificate (Common Entrance) in 1996. From there, she proceeded to King’s International College, Moniya, Ibadan, where she finished  in 2002.
Opeyemi attended Babcock University where she had her bachelor’s degree in Information Resources Management (BIRM) between 2002-2006. She had her master’s degree in Information Science (M.Inf.Sc.) at the University of Ibadan, between 2007-2010.

*Opeyemi with her parents

Opeyemi returned to Babcock for her Ph.D in Information Resources Management, majoring in Business Information Management between 2010-2012. The young Ph.D holder spoke with Sunday Vanguard.
How I feel?
I feel honoured. Infact, I am grateful to God Almighty, my parents, my proprietor, Prof. Kayode Makinde (President/Vice Chancellor, Babcock), and everyone around me, who have contributed one way or the other to my life.
The journey so far
Any journey to stardom is not a tea party. It is not without its own ups and downs. But I believe determination kept me going. I have dreamt of becoming a lecturer since my undergraduate days. Even, back then in my masters class, my colleagues and lecturers used to call me ‘professor, probably because of the light of success they saw in me. Here I am today, as an assistant lecturer in Babcock University.
Plans ahead
What I think of doing now is publishing in internationally recognized journals, attending conferences, seminars and workshops, so as to further move up the ladder.
Infact, I have the opportunity of giving lectures at seminars and lecturing, as a way of giving back to the society I benefited from. I certainly have every opportunity to influencing the next person beside me positively. It’s not until I get to that big picture, before I could impact positively on others.
With all these efforts, I hope to become a professor at 30.
Academic mentors
I had always wanted to be like Dr. Yacob Haliso and Prof. Bunmi Alegbeleye, whom I passed through their excellent and professional tutelage to get to this stage in life. I pray God Almighty to continue to strengthen and bless them and their families.

Curled from Vanguard!