The man who saw tomorrow

Visionaries are people who see tomorrow and try to address it today. Since May 1981 in a clear vision, Dr David Olaniyi Oyedepo saw the future of the educational sector in Nigeria and planned to contribute to its timely rescue. Today, he remains the only Nigerian who owns two world-class universities in Nigeria amidst several collections of Nurseries, primaries and secondary schools across the Nigerian states.   

BACKGROUND

Dr David Olaniyi Oyedepo, Chancellor Covenant University, Canaanland, Ota, in Ogun Stae of Nigeria, had his early education in Nigeria and later earned a Ph.D. in Human Development from Honolulu in Hawaii, USA.

Dr. Oyedepo has significantly impacted many spheres of life, especially in Church ministry and lately in the educational sector.

An ordained minister of the gospel, his entrance into full-time ministry in 1981 brought honour, dignity, and colour to the hitherto unattractive pulpit ministry. This change occurred in a country where the church was synonymous with poverty.

By dint of hard work, commitment, and dedication to vision, Dr. Oyedepo is today the President of Living Faith Church Worldwide Inc., a vibrant church network in over 250 cities and towns in Nigeria. In addition, he is the Senior Pastor at Faith Tabernacle, Canaanland, a 50,000 seat capacity Church auditorium renowned to be the largest in the world.

He is also the President of World Mission Agency Inc. (WMA), a Christian missionary organization with mission stations in over 40 nations in Africa, including Europe, Jamaica, and America.

Dr. Oyedepo has a great passion for knowledge and research. This love has translated into the establishment of many vibrant educational institutions. These include the Word of Faith Bible Institute (WOFBI), Faith Academy, Kingdom Heritage School, and Covenant University.

WOFTBI is a reputable leadership training institute founded in 1986 to service the training needs of ministries and raise men for exploits. The institute, which has branches in about 36 nations of Africa, has trained over 30,000 men and women to date.

Covenant University, an institution he founded in 2002, is currently pioneering a revolution in education in Nigeria and the African Continent.

With the motto- Raising a New Generation of Leaders, the University was founded on a profound philosophical departure platform of moving Nigeria’s education from form to skill, from knowledge to empowerment, from figures to future-building, from legalism to realism, from points to facts and from mathematics to “life-matics.”

Under his visionary leadership and mentorship and within nearly a decade of existence, Covenant University has challenged the old records, dazed the doubting Thomases, and blazed the trail in Nigeria’s tertiary education system.

Covenant University is the first private University in Nigeria to have the fastest approval of its application for operating license by the National Universities Commission(NUC). It is the first to start full academic and administrative activities at its permanent site at take-off, with all facilities in place. Furthermore, it is also the first University to have all of its 16 programmes presented for accreditation approved by the NUC. Covenant University, today, has become a centre of excellence – like nectar attracting the best brains in the land.

An acclaimed author and publisher, Dr. Oyedepo has written over 60 titles apart from periodicals. He is also Chairman/Publisher of Dominion Publishing House (DPH), a publishing arm of his ministry. DPH has over 4 million prints in circulation to date. It won a Gold Merit Award of the Economic Community of West African State (ECOWAS) in 1992.

Dr. Oyedepo’s dogged commitment to excellence has also won him many honours and awards. These include:

• International Who is Who of intellectuals (13th Edition) from the international Biographical Centre, Cambridge, England;
• Man of Dignity from Global Care International;
• Frontline Christian Author from ECOWAS International Gold Award;
• Inscribed in the Jerusalem 3000 Scroll #102268.
• Doctor of Divinity by Bethel Graduate School of Technology, Riverside, California, USA;
• Fellow, Nigerian Academy of Education, and
• Fellow, Institute of Strategic Management, Nigeria.

Dr. David Oyedepo is married to Pastor (Mrs) Faith Oyedepo, and the marriage is blessed with godly children. Dr. Oyedepo’s hobbies are reading, reasoning, planning, and writing.

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