Three academic Staff of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, Oyo State, have been named among top scientists in the world. The scholars are Professors Abass Abiola Olajire, Olugbenga Solomon Bello and Agbaje Lateef.
According to a document recently released by a Netherlands-based organisation and a team of researchers led by Prof. John P.A. loannidis from Stanford University, United States, Professors Abass Abiola Olajire, Olugbenga Solomon Bello and Agbaje Lateef were also among 71 other Nigerian scholars who got the rare honour of being on the list of the top ranked world scientists.
An analysis of the research team’s data showed that was Olajire ranked 128th among 66,925 scholars in Environmental Sciences while Bello came 582nd out of 55,697 scholars in Chemical Engineering. Professor Lateef was placed in the 757th position among 50,343 scholars in Biotechnology worldwide.
Metrics obtained from Scopus, the largest database of peer-reviewed scholarly documents, identified the data sets of the research, which can be freely accessed on Mendeley. The data showed that Olajire and Bello of Pure and Applied Chemistry, as well as Lateef of Pure and Applied Biology, all from LAUTECH ranked 3rd, 35th and 61st in Nigeria respectively.
A statement from LAUTECH’s spokesman, Olalekan Fadeyi said “It is gratifying to note that while Prof. Olajire started his career as a foundation academic staff of LAUTECH in 1990, both Bello and Lateef are alumni of the university said. Olajire is a Professor of Industrial/Environmental Chemistry, Bello specializes in Physical Chemistry while Lateef is a Professor of Microbiology and also Head of LAUTECH’s Nanotechnology Research Group (NANO+)”.
