Seth Sunday Ajayi

Seth Sunday Ajayi is a Nigerian professor and scholar in wildlife conservation and environmental protection.

Early life and education

Ajayi was born on 16 May 1944, in Mopa, KogiState. He attended the Sudan Interior Mission Day School, Mopa and Titcombe College, Egbe, both in Kogi State. He used the Northern Nigerian Government Scholarship at both the Higher School Certificate and University levels and Obtained the B.Sc. Honours degree in zoology in 1968. He resumed graduate study thereafter at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, using a United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization Fellowship. He Completed a practical course at the College of African Wildlife, Mweka, Tanzania prior to the completion of the Master of Science degree in Wildlife and Range Management in 1971. Seth Ajayi's stellar academic career was overshadowed by his highly rated Ph.D. dissertation in wildlife management and was completed at the University of Ibadan in 1974.

Career

Seth Ajayi Joined the University of Ibadan as an assistant Training Fellow in Wildlife and Range Management at the Department of Forestry in 1968. He rapidly moved up the academic ladder after his doctoral training and In 1980, Ajayi became the First African Professor of Wildlife Conservation at the University of Ibadan. He created the first African Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Management with full separate degree program in Wildlife and Fisheries Management and became the pioneer Head, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Management, University of Ibadan, 1981-1988. He was also the Pioneer Dean, College of Environmental Resources Management, University of Agriculture, Abeokuta.

Ajayi was team leader of an expert group, which produced the Action Plan for Conservation of all renewable natural resources in Nigeria. He was also project leader at the National Science and Technology Development Agency of a research project on studies dealing with the domestication and control of wildlife species and their importance in food production and public health. He was Chairman of the Publicity Sub-Committee of the National Wildlife Conservation Committee and Chairman of the Committee of Wildlife Specialists on the Development of Lake Kainji National Park.

Research Work

Seth Ajayi uniquely provided the theoretical and scientific underpinnings for the indigenous design and development of the technology for the domestication of the African Giant Rat (Cricetomys gambianus), the Grass Cutter (Thryonomys swinderianus) and the Nigerian helmeted Guinea fowl (Numida meleagris). These breakthroughs provided, for the first time, a sustainable means for increasing animal protein supply in Africa that is devoid of the risk of species extermination.

The policy action of Seth Ajayi's intellectual works in Wildlife Management and Environmental Protection has led to the establishment of several wildlife parks not only in Nigeria, but also in other parts of Africa. His work has also emphasized the need to bring the rural population into development policy process by incorporating them into wildlife management institutions and mechanisms, so that they can derive a sense of ownership and thus develop a collective interest in wildlife conservation and environmental sustainability.

FAO Publications

Seth Ajayi was a major consultant for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for more than 3 decades.

• Utilisation of forest wildlife in West Africa. Misc/79/26, Food and Agriculture Organisation, Rome, 79 pp.
• Food and animal products from tropical forest: utilization of wildlife and by-product in West Africa. FAO Commission Consultancy Report, FAO, Rome.

• Record of the SADCC mobile training seminar on wildlife management involving people's participation - Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe, 4–26 June. Field Document No. 1, FO:/TCP/RAF/8962. Rome, FAO.

• Rural community participation in integrated wildlife management and utilisation in Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe (collection of seminar papers). Field Document No. 2, FO:TCP/RAF/8962. Rome, FAO.

Awards

• In June 1994, Ajayi received the "Global 500 Roll of Honor" award of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) for Outstanding Practical Achievements in Environmental Protection.
• In 2013, Ajayi was conferred by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan the Prestigious Nigerian National Order of Merit.

Membership of Professional Bodies

• Fellow of the Zoological Society of London. (F.Z.S.)
• Member of the Institute of Biology, London. (M.I.Biol.)
• Fellow of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland" (F.R.Z.S.S.)
• Fellow of the Linean Society, London. (F.L.S.)
• Fellow of the Strategic Institute for Natural Resources and Human Development (FRHD)
• Fellow of the Institute of Industrial Administration (FIIA)

External links

• Nigerian National Merit Award official website.
• Website of the Global 500 Laureate Roll of Honour