Don: Building Nigeria’s visibility in specialised mathematics imperative

The don said mathematics provides not only tools for solving problems but also insight into the deep order of reality.

He noted that mathematics is often described as the language of science, a language through which we express the patterns, symmetries, and structures that underlie our universe.

“Beyond its service to the natural sciences, mathematics is first and foremost a way of thinking, a disciplined art of reasoning, abstraction, and logical creativity.

“At its heart, mathematics seeks to understand relationships between numbers, shapes, operations, or even ideas.

“From the earliest attempts to count stones and measure land, human curiosity has always pushed toward uncovering the hidden regularities in seemingly diverse phenomena.

“Yet mathematics is not static. It grows, diversifies, and refines itself. As new patterns emerge, mathematicians create new concepts and frameworks to capture them.

“This evolution has led to the rich tapestry of modern mathematics-analysis, topology, geometry, combinatorics, and algebra, among others," Jaiyeola said.

The don also stressed the need for the country's digital economy to utilise homegrown security solutions using mathematical models.

“Nigeria’s digital economy needs home-grown security solutions. The theoretical foundations laid in our work on quasigroup-based cryptography should be advanced towards prototype development.

“Partnerships with industry and cybersecurity agencies should be sought to test and adapt these mathematical models,” he said.

“The Chair can champion an annual UNILAG mathematics outreach to ignite passion for the subject in primary and secondary school students, starting with schools in the UNILAG community,” he said.

He lauded the idea of the endowed chair.

“The vision behind this endowed chair is a brilliant one: to create a nexus where high-level scholarship meets tangible impact.

“As I have endeavoured to show through our publications, trained students, public lectures, and global collaborations, this vision is not only valid but vibrantly achievable,” he added.

Chairman of the Governing Council of Redeemer's University, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, who chaired the event,  described the lecture as not just academic, but a means to inspire the audience to embrace mathematics.

"To our students, embrace mathematics with courage, for it unlocks innovation. To our faculty, continue to network minds with patience and rigor. To our leaders, invest in mathematics for innovation that blends knowledge that blends the spiritual.

 "However, I laughed when, recently, it was declared that mathematics is not a compulsory subject today. To get to the university standard, I think it was the reverse. Maybe it was divine intervention that made them reverse it. Because everything we do now is about mathematics," he said.

Representative of Pastor Enoch Adeboye, who is the donor, Pastor Kayode Pitan, urged well-meaning individuals to borrow a leaf from the initiative.

"And we want to encourage other people also who are blessed by God to look at such beautiful things. We want you to invest in the next generation of us. God willing, we are praying that our children, the people who are coming behind us, will do much better than we have done. So once again, on behalf of our family and the Lord, we thank you," he said.