Israel Esan Owolabi is the provost, College of Engineering, Afe Babalola University[1] Owolabi was born on 27 April 1935 at Ayegbaju Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria.
He had his secondary education at Christ's School Ado Ekiti, (1951–1955), and tertiary education at the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology, Ibadan (1956–1958) for his GCE Advanced Level, University College, Ibadan, (1958–1961) for his B.Sc., (Hons) physics.
He transferred his service to the University of Ilorin as the pioneer professor of electrical engineering in 1978.
He became the dean, Faculty of Engineering and Technology (1980–1984) and deputy vice-chancellor (DVC) (1989–1993) and served as the head of the Department of Electrical Engineering in between the posts of dean and DVC.
He has been a member of Senate of the universities of Ife, Ilorin, LAUTECH, EKSU and ABUAD continuously from 1976 to date.