A Professor of Chemistry, Olufemi Peters, has emerged as the Vice-Chancellor of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN).

Peters, 64, beat six other candidates to clinch the seat in a keenly contested race at the nation’s only single-mode Open and Distance Learning (ODL) institution.

He is to take over the reins from the outgoing Vice-Chancellor, Professor Abdalla Uba Adamu, whose five-year single tenure elapses on 10th February 2021.

This was conveyed in a statement on Friday in Abuja by the Director, Media and Publicity, NOUN, Ibrahim Sheme, disclosing that Peters, a former Deputy Vice-Chancellor of NOUN, boasts an impressive track record of academic excellence spanning three decades, including many competencies in the area of ODL.

The newly elected VC, who is from Ogun State, holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from University of Ibadan (1979), a Masters’ degree in Polymer Science and Technology from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, (1982) and a PhD (Degradation and Stabilisation in Polymers) from Victoria University of Manchester, Institute of Science and Technology (1988), United Kingdom.

He has over 60 published works, 44 of which are Journal articles, and the remaining are peer-reviewed published proceedings and technical reports in the fields of chemistry, polymer science and technology, agriculture and in ODL in peer-reviewed international and local journals.

He has contributed to scientific innovations by co-designing and constructing a locally made (made-in-Nigeria) 600 Gloss-metre for determining gloss levels of surfaces, including that of the human skin, and, by leading the team that patented diatomaceous earth (DE), non-toxic grain-protectant, trademarked NSPRIDUST® which can protect stored agricultural grains for 16 months.