Professor Jacob Mayowa Owoyemi, a professor of wood protection and utilisation at the Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA), started his life with the hope of becoming somebody in life.
However, after completing his primary education at St James’s CAC, Akure and secondary school at St Peter’s Secondary School, Akure, fate could not smile on him as his parents could not afford to send him further.
He was therefore enrolled for carpentry work and he started learning carpentry under a famous carpenter in the city. He was so good that he became the most sought after in the trade in the city.
However, the same fate again smiled on him as he decided to return to school and the lure of education took him to the Government Technical College, Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, 
where he studied Wood Technology and later College of Education, Ikere Ekiti.
After this, the man decided that the sky was not the limit. He enrolled for his first degree programme at the Delta State University, Abraka, where he bagged Bachelor of Science in Technical Studies, did his Master’s degree in Agricultural Technology at FUTA and later his Ph.D in Wood Technology from the Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti.
He became a lecturer at the Department of Forestry and Wood Technology, FUTA, from where he became a full professor in the department, specialising in wood protection and utilisation.
The 68-year-old professor, born in December 1958, on Tuesday, November 10, delivered the 210th inaugural lecture of FUTA with the title: “A Conundrum of Live and Let Live: Wood’s Unending Struggle for Survival.”
The inaugural lecture was held at the Obafemi Awolowo auditorium in the institution and was chaired by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Adenike Oladiji.
