Obafemi Awolowo University
Encyclopedia
Obafemi Awolowo University is a government-owned and -operated Nigerian university. The university is in the ancient city of Ile-Ife
, Osun State
, Nigeria
. The university was founded in 1962 as the University of Ife by the regional government of Western Nigeria led by late chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola and was renamed Obafemi Awolowo University on May 12, 1987 in honour of Chief Obafemi Awolowo
(1909–1987), the first Nigerian premier of the Western Region of Nigeria.
In 1959, the Ashby commission recommended additional (regional) universities in the northern and eastern regions of Nigeria and another federal university in the Lagos protectorate, but none in the more educationally advanced western region which had a 'free and universal primary education' program. The government of the western region did not want to rely on the federal universities or those of other regions to admit its populous secondary school leavers.
The protest of the foundation of the university at Ife was not only in rebuttal to the perceived politicization of higher education opportunities in Nigeria and the western region but was also designed to fill the gaps in the manpower needs.
Ife started the first Faculty of Pharmacy in West Africa, the first Department of Chemical Engineering and the first Electronics component in addition to Electrical Engineering. Its medical school started with an integrated curriculum and community orientation (which was later adopted by the World Health Organization) and a compulsory baccalaureate
(BSc honours) before entrance to the clinical school, but this was later jettisoned.
, the arts
, the natural sciences, the social sciences
, the medical sciences, engineering
and technology
.
The university has 13 faculties and two colleges — the Postgraduate College and the College of Health Sciences — administered in more than 60 departments.
(MD, PhD) a Glasgow University graduate and Nigeria's first professor of public health recruited from the University of Ibadan
. He served from 1962 to 1966, until political upheavals and military coups led him to be replaced. The second vice-chancellor was Professor HA Oluwasanmi who served from 1966 to 1975. The newly appointed vice-chancellor, Professor Idowu Bamitale Omole, a professor of International Relations appointment takes effect from June 24, 2011 and his tenure expires in 2016.
Nigeria's only Nobel prize winner (in literature), Wole Soyinka
, served as professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Ife. At the close of last millennium, he was appointed an emeritus professor of Dramatic Arts at the university.
Stephen Adebanji Akintoye served as Director of the Institute of African Studies from 1974-1977.
In terms of research productivity, Ife is ranked as the most productive university in Nigeria by the National Universities Commission (NUC) and by Shanghai University world rankings as it relates to Africa. Ife has attracted young Nigerian students because, for a long time, it had no lower age limit for admission.
Enrollment is about 12,000 for undergraduates and 6,000 for graduate studies. The major halls of undergraduate residences for males are Fajuyi, Awolowo, Angola and E.T.F. For women, halls of residence are Moremi, Ladoke Akintola, Alumni and Mozambique. Muritala Muhammed Hall is for postgraduates.
The university is endowed with beautiful architecture and an eye-catching landscape built on about 5000 acres (20.2 km²) of a total of 13000 acres (52.6 km²) of the land owned by the university. It is however by no means "Africa's most beautiful campus" as students and staff are always wont to claim.
The university has alumni groups outside Nigeria, the foremost being the Great Ife Alumni Association of the United States, headquartered in Houston, Texas
, which spearheaded the now-traditional biennial reunions of the alumni for the primary purpose of raising funds for the development of the alma mater
.
Ife
Ife is an ancient Yoruba city in south-western Nigeria. Evidence of inhabitation at the site has been discovered to date back to roughly 560 BC...
, Osun State
Osun State
Ọṣun State is an inland state in south-western Nigeria. Its capital is Osogbo. It is bounded in the north by Kwara State, in the east partly by Ekiti State and partly by Ondo State, in the south by Ogun State and in the west by Oyo State. The state's current governor is Rauf Aregbesola, who was...
, Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
. The university was founded in 1962 as the University of Ife by the regional government of Western Nigeria led by late chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola and was renamed Obafemi Awolowo University on May 12, 1987 in honour of Chief Obafemi Awolowo
Obafemi Awolowo
Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo was a Nigerian politician, trade unionist, author and statesman. A Yoruba and native of Ikenne in Ogun State of Nigeria, he started his career as a regional political leader like most of his pre-independence contemporaries and was responsible for much of the progressive...
(1909–1987), the first Nigerian premier of the Western Region of Nigeria.
History
The decision to establish the University of Ife by the ruling Action Group party of the Western Region of Nigeria was in protest at the recommendations of the Ashby commission. The first Nigerian university was established in 1948 at Ibadan, in the western region as an external college of the university of London. However, the needs of Nigeria (then a British colony) far outstripped the productivity of the only university. In particular the University College at Ibadan had no faculty of engineering or technology, no law school, no pharmacy school or management training abilities. The Ashby commission, set up by the British, was to review tertiary education needs of the soon-to-be-independent nation of Nigeria.In 1959, the Ashby commission recommended additional (regional) universities in the northern and eastern regions of Nigeria and another federal university in the Lagos protectorate, but none in the more educationally advanced western region which had a 'free and universal primary education' program. The government of the western region did not want to rely on the federal universities or those of other regions to admit its populous secondary school leavers.
The protest of the foundation of the university at Ife was not only in rebuttal to the perceived politicization of higher education opportunities in Nigeria and the western region but was also designed to fill the gaps in the manpower needs.
Ife started the first Faculty of Pharmacy in West Africa, the first Department of Chemical Engineering and the first Electronics component in addition to Electrical Engineering. Its medical school started with an integrated curriculum and community orientation (which was later adopted by the World Health Organization) and a compulsory baccalaureate
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
(BSc honours) before entrance to the clinical school, but this was later jettisoned.
Academics
Obafemi Awolowo University offers undergraduate and post-graduate programmes in fields of specialization spanning the humanitiesHumanities
The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....
, the arts
ARts
aRts, which stands for analog Real time synthesizer, is an audio framework that is no longer under development. It is best known for previously being used in KDE to simulate an analog synthesizer....
, the natural sciences, the social sciences
Social sciences
Social science is the field of study concerned with society. "Social science" is commonly used as an umbrella term to refer to a plurality of fields outside of the natural sciences usually exclusive of the administrative or managerial sciences...
, the medical sciences, engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
and technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
.
The university has 13 faculties and two colleges — the Postgraduate College and the College of Health Sciences — administered in more than 60 departments.
Staff
The first vice-chancellor of the new university was Professor Oladele AjoseOladele Ajose
Oladele Ajose was a Lagos prince and Vice Chancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University. He was an early advocate of primary health care in Nigeria and the first tenured African professor at the University of Ibadan and in Nigeria...
(MD, PhD) a Glasgow University graduate and Nigeria's first professor of public health recruited from the University of Ibadan
University of Ibadan
The University of Ibadan is the oldest Nigerian university, and is located five miles from the centre of the major city of Ibadan in Western Nigeria...
. He served from 1962 to 1966, until political upheavals and military coups led him to be replaced. The second vice-chancellor was Professor HA Oluwasanmi who served from 1966 to 1975. The newly appointed vice-chancellor, Professor Idowu Bamitale Omole, a professor of International Relations appointment takes effect from June 24, 2011 and his tenure expires in 2016.
Nigeria's only Nobel prize winner (in literature), Wole Soyinka
Wole Soyinka
Akinwande Oluwole "Wole" Soyinka is a Nigerian writer, poet and playwright. He was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature, where he was recognised as a man "who in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones fashions the drama of existence", and became the first African in Africa and...
, served as professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Ife. At the close of last millennium, he was appointed an emeritus professor of Dramatic Arts at the university.
Stephen Adebanji Akintoye served as Director of the Institute of African Studies from 1974-1977.
Campus and student life
The motto of the university is "For learning and culture". However, owing to the rigorous and exacting academic standards, students have parodied this motto to "For learning and torture".In terms of research productivity, Ife is ranked as the most productive university in Nigeria by the National Universities Commission (NUC) and by Shanghai University world rankings as it relates to Africa. Ife has attracted young Nigerian students because, for a long time, it had no lower age limit for admission.
Enrollment is about 12,000 for undergraduates and 6,000 for graduate studies. The major halls of undergraduate residences for males are Fajuyi, Awolowo, Angola and E.T.F. For women, halls of residence are Moremi, Ladoke Akintola, Alumni and Mozambique. Muritala Muhammed Hall is for postgraduates.
The university is endowed with beautiful architecture and an eye-catching landscape built on about 5000 acres (20.2 km²) of a total of 13000 acres (52.6 km²) of the land owned by the university. It is however by no means "Africa's most beautiful campus" as students and staff are always wont to claim.
Halls of Resident
Ile-Ife campus is built on about 5000 acres (20.2 km²) of a total of 13000 acres (52.6 km²) university owned land. Its halls of residence include:- Awolowo HallAwolowo HallAwolowo Hall is one of the Halls of Residence of Obafemi Awolowo University, it is the most populous hostel in Obafemi Awolowo University with a maximum capacity of 2,032 legal occupants . It was built in the year 1970. The hostel, used as a temporary female hostel, was named Awolowo Hall in 1972/73...
- Angola HallAngola HallAngola Hall is a hall of residence for male students at Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria. The hall is one of the furthest from the university's main entrance, located more than 10 km away. It is one of the quietest and well-disciplined halls on campus with scheduled hours of entrance for...
- Alumni Hall
- ETF Hall
- Fajuyi Hall
- Ladoke Akintola Hall
- Moremi Hall
- Mozambique Hall
- Murtala Muhammed Hall
Notable alumni
Fatou Bensouda (born 31 January 1961) is a Gambian lawyer, former government civil servant, International Criminal Law Prosecutor and Legal Adviser. She has been a Deputy Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) since 2004. She is also responsible for the Prosecution Division of the ICC.- Ibiyinka AlaoIbiyinka AlaoIbiyinka Olufemi Alao is a Nigerian artist. Alao attended Nigeria Navy Secondary School Navy Town Lagos from 1988 to 1993. He also received education as an architect at the Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife...
, artist - Dizzy K FalolaDizzy K FalolaDizzy K Falola is a London-based Nigerian singer, currently performing as a gospel artiste, but is perhaps best known as a former eighties pop star, famed for the hit "Baby Kilode".-Early life and pop career:...
, singer - Abiodun Adesanya
- Dominic OneyaDominic OneyaColonel Dominic Obukadata Oneya was Administrator of Kano State, Nigeria from August 1996 to August 1998 during the military regime of General Sani Abacha, then Administrator of Benue State from August 1998 to May 1999 during the transitional regime of General Abdulsalami Abubakar, handing over...
, former Kano state governor - Lukman Omotayo Bello
- Dr Segun Mimiko, Ondo state governor
- Rev.(Dr) Soji Falae, Builder, QS, Computer Systems Analyst & Construction Management Consultant
- Fidelis OyakhilomeFidelis OyakhilomeFidelis Oyakhilome was Governor of Rivers State, Nigeria from January 1984 until August 1986 during the military administrations of Generals Muhammadu Buhari and Ibrahim Babangida.-Birth and education:...
, former Rivers stateRivers StateRivers State is one of the 36 states of Nigeria. Its capital is Port Harcourt. It is bounded on the South by the Atlantic Ocean, to the North by Imo, Abia and Anambra States, to the East by Akwa Ibom State and to the West by Bayelsa and Delta states...
governor - Osonye Tess OnwuemeOsonye Tess OnwuemeOsonye Tess Onwueme is a Nigerian playwright, scholar and poet, who rose to prominence writing plays with themes of social justice, culture, and the environment. In 2010, she became the University Professor of Global Letters, following her exceptional service as Distinguished Professor of Cultural...
, writer and professor - Dr Festus Oluseyi Oderanti (Researcher at Newcastle University Business School)
The university has alumni groups outside Nigeria, the foremost being the Great Ife Alumni Association of the United States, headquartered in Houston, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, which spearheaded the now-traditional biennial reunions of the alumni for the primary purpose of raising funds for the development of the alma mater
Alma mater
Alma mater , pronounced ), was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele, and in Christianity for the Virgin Mary.-General term:...
.
See also
- Obafemi Awolowo University massacreObafemi Awolowo University massacreThe Obafemi Awolowo University massacre was a series of shootings and murders which took place against students of Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria on Saturday, July 10, 1999...
- Awolowo HallAwolowo HallAwolowo Hall is one of the Halls of Residence of Obafemi Awolowo University, it is the most populous hostel in Obafemi Awolowo University with a maximum capacity of 2,032 legal occupants . It was built in the year 1970. The hostel, used as a temporary female hostel, was named Awolowo Hall in 1972/73...
- Angola HallAngola HallAngola Hall is a hall of residence for male students at Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria. The hall is one of the furthest from the university's main entrance, located more than 10 km away. It is one of the quietest and well-disciplined halls on campus with scheduled hours of entrance for...