PROFESSOR JOHN AKINTAYO DELIVERS UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN'S 517TH INAUGURAL LECTURE

 

Prof. John Oluwole Akinbiyi Akintayo, a Professor of the Faculty of Law, on March 2, 2023, delivered the 517th inaugural lecture. The lecture took place at Trenchard Hall, University of Ibadan and began around 4:49 pm with academic staff, guests, and students in attendance.

The inaugural lecture, titled "The Lawful Use of Law," started with the recitation of the National Anthem, the University Anthem, the reading of the biography of Prof. Akintayo, and the welcoming speech. In his opening speech, Prof. Akintayo chronicled the history of the Faculty of Law and gave recognition that for the first time in a lecture delivered by the faculty, three Professors from the Faculty of Law are present at once, these Professors being, Prof. Akintayo, Prof. Akintola and Prof. Bamgbose (SAN). 

Notably, the lecture is the eighth inaugural lecture given by a member of the Faculty of Law after the seventh inaugural lecture delivered by the current Dean of the Faculty, Prof. Akintola with the title “Going Back to my Roots? Leveraging Customary Law Jurisprudence to Address Health Inequities in Nigeria”.

In his lecture, Prof. Akintayo emphasized the importance of the law in all facets of human existence and the necessity of using it properly to uphold justice. He made intersections between the Law of Jurisprudence, Conflict of law, and Criminal law while also commenting on some political issues in Nigeria. 

In his view, some of the issues as regards the excessive exercise of power by political office holders are majorly caused by the statute or law empowering these office holders, therefore, such excessive use of power is constitutional or according to the law and not arbitrary.  He depicted an example wherein, the constitution empowers the President to decide to give or not to give consent to a bill agreed upon by the National Assembly who are more in numbers than the President. 

Evaluating the contemporary use of Law with respect to Conflict of law, Prof. Akintayo submitted that many people do not read the terms and conditions provided by Google before signing up to open an email account. The terms and conditions require that if there were to be a conflict of laws, the consenting person would be restricted to instituting a case in Santa Clara, California, USA while Google has the opportunity to bring the case anywhere in the world. He further stated, that granting ex-governors huge pay-offs amount to unlawful use of the law, among several other issues he pointed out.

Present at the lecture were the senior academic staff of the university and other notable members such as The Dean of Students Affairs, Prof. Abiona; Prof. Prof. Bamgbose (SAN); Prof. Akintola; and Prof. Adeniyi, Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan. Adebowale.

The former Nigeria Bar Association Chairman (Ibadan Chapter) ended the lecture by quoting the biblical verse- Philippians 4:8 and appreciating the efforts of those who contributed to the success of the day with much gratitude to his wife.