Husband & Wife bag PhD from UNILAG on the Same Day
Posted on Tuesday, February 12th, 2013 at 2:27 AMBy Adeola Adeyemo
A married couple, Olusegun Samuel and his wife, Temitope Samuel stole the show at the 50th Convocation Ceremony of the University of Lagos where they made history by becoming the first couple to bag doctorate degrees on the same day at the institution.
While Samuel did his PhD work on Marine Ecology, with a focus on Ecotoxicology- the study of how poison and chemicals affect the ecosystem, his wife focused on Dermatophyte, a group of fungi that causes skin diseases.
Samuel who joined UNILAG as a lecturer in the Faculty of Science in 2007 met Temitope at the same institution and they got married in May 2010. Temitope on the other hand, obtained her first and second degrees at UNILAG. They are blessed with a child but decided not to have another until they complete their PhD programmes, Temitope told Punch.
“We decided that we were not going to mix pleasure with business. The two don’t go together. Why should we have another baby so soon? When we got married on May 1, 2010, we both agreed on what would happen before we started our PhD programme. But now, the programme is over, we can return to that,” she said.
They said it took them a lot of hard work, sleepless nights, and huge financial resources to complete the programme.
“It took a lot of sacrifice. But since we were both involved, we were able to manage our time. Whenever I was not at home, my wife would be there. Again, at times, we worked so late on the campus that we did not get home until 11.00pm,” Samuel told Punch.
He added that he is proud of his wife’s achievement and doesn’t feel threatened by it. “It is what we both agreed to do. I don’t feel threatened that my wife has attained the same academic feat with me. It is for the benefit of the family.”
They don’t intend to stop at a PhD but plan to pursue their post-doctoral works.
“Definitely, getting a PhD is not the end. The next thing is to pursue post-doctoral works outside the country, because there is no facilities for such in Nigeria. Then, there is the need to get our findings published in a reputable journal. For some, it costs about $500 to get published. Some may say they want to publish it free, but it may take more than two years to get published. For two years, they may tell you that they are still studying your findings,” Samuel said.
Their achievement is indeed admirable and we wish them the very best.
Tags: Olusegun Samuel, Temitope Samuel, university of lagos
Congrats to the couple! Lol at “not going to mix business with pleasure”
Excuse me Dr Samuel, it doesnt cost $500 to be published!! If you want to be involved in postdoc research, then apply to the right place, with people who are into research and publishing, be ready to do the work. Its a process to be published, yes it can take as long as a yr from submission and , may require some revision, but any NO Reputable journal will ask for $500!!
Wow! Alright, i am so motivated right now. Will consider putting my doctoral aspirations back on track!
Congrats, Power couple! Wish U two the best!
Dr O, that man knows what he’s talking about. My husband has had to pay some cool cash to get a paper published in a journal. And it’s a highly reputable one. Journals get level o!
I work in publications and depending on the journal it can infact cost $500 or more. Some journals will charge you for colored figures. if you are displaying molecules or bacteria it makes sense to display them in high resolution figures. Some journals will also tag on other fees for various reasons. It all depends on the journal. And yes these are peer reviewed journals that will charge you these fees. Sometimes you don’t find out until your paper is accepted and at that time you don’t would not want to start the process all over again with another journal.
You have to remember many journals are not making money, advertising is down so they have to pass the cost to someone.
While I agree that it might take 500 dollars or more to be published in peer-reviewed journals but I am with Dr. O on the fact that Journals with top-notch reputations do not cost that much, if you pay at all. Having worked with several tutors on papers that gets published in Journals like the Georgetown Review and can’t remember them paying. A little bit of advice for African academics, there are too many Journals out there with suspicious reputations who target works coming from the continent. Especially, given the pressure to ‘publish or die’ in academia. Congrats to the couple!
I love how all these Dr. this and that are commenting… Inspire us please.
Congrats to the couple. So inspiring. Like minds…
HMMMMM OK! SO STILL WAN READ? MAYBE ZH.D DIS TIME!
I will focus on PhD and post-doctoral after I have obtained my M.R.S certificate… -_- Isn’t that the order the power couple followed too?
na wa o. today everybody commenting on BN is a doctor. kudos guys
i am aware that publishing in journals are very expensive and conference fees included are overwhelming. i am inspired but wait ….how many years did the couple use cos i mean we know what it is to bag such a degree especially in Nigeria. more power Dr n Dr Mrs Samuel