Excitement as NOUN Holds 12th Inaugural Lecture

The 12th inaugural lecture series of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) was held in Abuja on Wednesday at the university permanent site along the airport road.

With the theme, “Africanization of Biblical Hermeneutics: An Excursus into Jesus’s Parabolic Discourses”, it was delivered by the head, Department of Religious Studies, Prof Olubiyi Adeniyi Adewale who was recently conferee with the title of professor.

In his opening remarks, the vice chancellor of the university, Prof Abdalla Uba Adamu extolled the quality of the lecturer whom he said earned his professorship on merit.
He said the university was evolving with a target of 1m students annually even though the current enrolment is put at 400,000 students.

Chukwuemeka Odumegwu University’s best creative student, Ezinne Okeke has received a variety of food items as reward.

These items included 18 cups of beans, yam, and pawpaw after winning a competition According to him, the university stands behind the lecture paper presented by the lecturer, the reason for which no one can question its authenticity.

He noted with nostalgia how it was a bit difficult for anyone to give inaugural lecture in the past due to so many factors but said because of the scholarly nature of the subject matter, it was easier for Prof Adewale to prove his mettle.

On his part, Prof Adewale said he was grateful first to his parents and the university for the inputs they all played towards moulding him in life.

According to him, “African Biblical hermeneutics consists typically of three poles: the pole of the biblical text, the pole of the African context and the pole of appropriation”.

For him, one major issue that has always cropped up when African hermeneutics is being discussed is the continent’s heterogeneity with great diversity in terms of people, beliefs and languages.

The lecture attracted the entire academic community and well wishers of the lecturer from within and Abuja