Olanrewaju Shitta-Bey made a professor of philosophy at the University of Maryland

NIGERIAN philosopher Professor Olanrewaju Shitta-Bey has been promoted to the rank of professor of philosophy and humanities by the University of Maryland Global Campus in the US over the last week.

Prior to his promotion, Professor Shitta-Bey was an associate professor in the Department of Philosophy and Humanities of the university. According to the lecturer, his promotion will benefit Nigeria and humanity.

Professor Shitta-Bey said: “Nigerians and humanity in general stands to benefit from my hard work and experience owing to community service associated with my field of expertise. A good example is The Shitta-Bey Undergraduate Prize award launched early this year.

“I do feel differently but not because the promotion is coming from a foreign institution. I feel differently because I got what I worked hard for and it came at a record time just like my doctoral degree.”

 “What many people will call challenges are normal occurrences. As a goal getter, you don’t see challenges, you see opportunities to get better and do better to achieve more.”

He advised the Nigerian government to improve the education standard in the country and urged his colleagues leaving the country to be considerate. A 2004 philosophy graduate of the Lagos State University, Professor Shitta-Bey later bagged a Masters degree in Philosophy from the University of Lagos and subsequently capped it with a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Ibadan in 2014.

Professor Shitta-Bey said: “My honest advice is that they should follow their hearts but should not neglect to help the country in whatever capacity they can because Nigeria really needs the help of experts at this critical time. Anything and everything the government should do to improve standard and develop education in Nigeria is known to government, what is left is the goodwill to do the needful moving forward."

In 2016, Professor Shitta-Bey  was on a post-doctoral research fellowship programme in the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Uludag University, Bursa in Turkey. He has over 16 publications to his credit in reputable local and international journals and has attended well over 14 conferences in Nigeria, Ghana and the US.