The First/Premier University in Nigeria, University of Ibadan celebrates its 66-year of existence today.

Brief History of University of Ibadan
The University of Ibadan, founded in 1948, is the oldest university in Nigeria and the only institution founded before the country became independent in 1960. The University of Ibadan is a federally-controlled public university located in Ibadan, Oyo State. As of 2009 it had an enrollment of over 12,000 students.

On November 17, 1948. Arthur Creech Jones, then the British Secretary of State for the Colonies, led the inauguration ceremony of the institution. The university was originally created as an extension of the University of London and was called University College, Ibadan. Its ties to the London campus included the grading of major exams at the British university's home campus. The first significant campus expansion occurred in 1957 with the creation of a College of Medicine that included a 500-bed teaching hospital.

University College, Ibadan became an independent university in 1962 when it severed its last links to the University of London. Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Nigeria’s first Prime Minister, was named the university’s first chancellor the following year.

The university has thirteen different colleges or schools, including Colleges of Medicine, Agriculture and Forestry, Law, Education, Public Health, Veterinary Medicine, and Technology. The largest faculties are in the social sciences, the arts, and applied science. The campus also has thirteen residence halls for undergraduate and graduate students. Other university facilities include a botanical garden, a zoological garden, and the University Media Centre, which houses the campus radio station.

University of Ibadan alumni include Wole Soyinka who in 1986 became the first African to win a Nobel Prize in literature. Soyinka later taught at the campus. Chinua Achebe, the other leading contemporary Nigerian writer, is an alumnus of the campus as well as environmental and political activist Kenule "Ken" Saro-Wiwa, who was executed in 1995 by the Nigerian government for his role in protesting foreign oil company exploitation of the people and resources of the Niger Delta.

Few among other prominent alumni of the institution include
Prof. Ayo Banjo
Pastor William Kumuyi
Prof. Niyi Osundare
Prof. Abiola Irele
Prof. J.P. Clark
Prof. Michael Omolewa
Prof. Wande Abimbola
Gamaliel Onosode
Farida Waziri

Part of the activities making the celebration is Admission to Higher Degrees (Doctorate) and Award of Honorary Degrees to the following eminent persons:

1. Chief Oluwole Oladapo Olanipekun, SAN, OFR: Former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and immediate past Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the University of Ibadan Governing Council 2009 – 2013 (LL.D).

2. Emeritus Professor Theophilus Oladapo Ogunlesi, OFR, FAS, FRCP, FMCPN, DFMCN, FWACP: First Nigerian Professor of Medicine, First Nigerian Head of the Department of Medicine and the First Nigerian to obtain the Membership and later Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians of London (D.Sc.).

3. Emeritus Professor Tekena Nitonye Tamuno: First alumnus of the University of Ibadan to become its Vice-Chancellor (D.Litt.).

4. Otunba Mike Adeniyi Isola Adenuga, Jr. GCON: An outstanding industrialist who sits atop Africa’s largest business empire comprising oil and gas, telecommunications, aviation, banking and real estate; building his companies in each of these sectors into major players (D.Sc.).

5. Professor Akinwande Oluwole Soyinka: An essayist, poet, novelist, first African Nobel Prize Winner for Literature in 1986 and wonderful alumnus of the University (D.Litt.).

Source: U.I. Website