Courage to Be Different is a masterpiece with an in-depth account of the challenges faced by leaders across Africa, especially leaders with integrity who dare to be different and purposefully eschew corrupt practices. Professor Oyewole did not just stop at highlighting the leadership flaws, corruptions, and challenges that have bedeviled the academic, political, and religious institutions in Africa and thereby limited Africa’s relevance on the global stage. He explicitly highlighted the solutions and measures that must be put in place for Nigeria and Africa, at large, to take their rightful position amongst the comity of nations with influence, relevance, and transformative impacts.

Courage to Be Different is not a theoretical leadership piece but rather a product of Professor Olusola Bandele Oyewole’s lived experience at various leadership levels of academic and religious institutions in Nigeria and across Africa. He emphasized the need to place a very high premium on integrity and humility while executing your leadership duties and eschewing corruption in all its shades and forms.

The scope and impact of Courage to Be Different transcend the geographical location of Africa. Its relevance and cumulative influence will cut across the nations of the world if the measures and necessary ingredients for transformative leadership highlighted by the author are adequately harnessed. Courage to Be Different is a ‘must-read’ for whoever desires Nigeria and Africa, at large, to take their rightful positions amongst the comity of nations.

In Courage to Be Different, Professor Oyewole explicitly outlined an individual’s responsibilities toward making Nigeria a better place and Africa the pride of all continents by imbibing much-needed transformative leadership skills, ideas, and traits.

We all need the courage to be different in our world. Exodus 23:2 is a true reflection of what Professor Olusola Bandele Oyewole stands for:

“Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment.” – Exodus 23:2 (KJV)

The book ‘Courage to Be Different: The Making of a Leader with Integrity’ is an autobiographical work by Professor Olusola Oyewole, Quondam Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Nigeria, and currently the Secretary-General of the Association of African Universities (AAU), Accra, Ghana. Running a public university in Nigeria, in particular, is a herculean task. It is gratifying that in this volume, Professor has detailed his experience as the Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Accounting Officer of one of Nigeria’s most consequential specialised universities.

The author has outlined leadership skills and principles that are applicable in other industries, apart from higher education management, where he has spent the greater part of his adult life. He emphasized his personal values, role models and principles that have guided him in taking leadership decisions.

In the two major leadership positions outlined in this book, namely Vice-Chancellor and Secretary-General, Oyewole came well-prepared and outlined his Vision, Strategy, and Core values before taking up the positions, including his transformative Agenda, which he had set out to achieve.

A major section is devoted to the sordid experience including well-orchestrated intrigues, campaign of calumny and sabotage which the author experienced while in the saddle at FUNAAB, from both internal and external sources, as he was buffeted from many directions, including but not limited to brushes with his employers, his top management, the non-academic staff unions, the anti-corruption agencies, and ranking members of the National Assembly purportedly performing their oversight duties. The operative keyword here is corruption, which he resisted with all his might and for which he suffered, including court summons and failing health.  Thankfully, he was discharged and acquitted by a court of competent jurisdiction, while his health was subsequently restored to normalcy. And he returns all the glory and adoration to his creator for surviving the onslaught without any compromise.

The reader would find out about the author’s inner conviction predicated on his very strong religious inclinations. An attempt was even made on the eve of the completion of his five-year stint to sack him, but through divine intervention, he triumphed over his traducers, and the unwholesome project failed.

In spite of all the challenges that he faced as Vice-Chancellor at FUNAAB, Oyewole still managed to outline an impressive and very long list of what he considered to be his fundamental achievements. It is gratifying that he had, earlier on, before assuming office, developed metrics for measuring success and impact. Anyone aspiring to public office would do well to consult the Oyewole template and checklist.

This memoir, written in a lucid and straightforward language, would be found invaluable by all those who seek to serve in the shark-infested, muddy and murky waters of the Nigerian public university system, the recommended survival strategy being to refrain from any unethical decision-making. I strongly recommend this book to academics and anyone keen on serving in such supposedly high-flying but risky positions. Along with his experience as the topmost technocrat in AAU, this book is a welcome addition to the literature on contemporary management of higher education in Africa.