₦airaland Forum

Chief Frederick Rotimi Alade Williams, QC ,
SAN (16 December 1920 – 26 March 2005) was a prominent Nigerian lawyer who was the first Nigerian to become a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. [1] In the 1950s, he was a member of the Action Group and subsequently became the minister for local government and Justice. He was the president of the Nigerian Bar Association in 1959, the association is the leading body for
lawyers in the country. He left politics in the 1960s, as a result of the political crisis in the Western Region of Nigeria.
Throughout his career, he was involved in some memorable and important court cases, such as Lakanmi vs the Western Government of Nigeria, which set the precedent that a military government could not use its power to make laws that will appropriate an individuals property. [2] The Oloye Williams, himself a Yoruba chieftain , was also among a group of lawyers that represented the Oba of Lagos, Adeniji Adele, against challenges by the Nigerian National Democratic Party . The latter had previously gained solidarity and foundation from the ruling House of Docemo in Lagos.
Early life
Rotimi Williams was born on 16 December 1920 in Lagos. His older brother was
Akintola Williams , born a year earlier, who became a distinguished Chartered Accountant. [3] His father and uncle were both lawyers, and were called to the bar in 1927 and 1892 respectively. He entered
primary school in the 1930s, at the
Methodist Ologbowo School, then went to C.M.S Grammar School, Lagos for
secondary education . Despite being given a full scholarship to study mechanical engineering at Yaba Higher College, he chose to become a lawyer. He earned his bachelor's degree in 1942 and was called to the bar at the Gray's Inn, London in 1943. He set up the first indigenous Nigerian law firm in 1948 with Chief Remilekun Fani-Kayode and Chief Bode Thomas . The law firm was called "Thomas, Williams and Kayode". [4][5]
Early political career
In 1943, he became the first Nigerian solicitor to the Supreme Court of Nigeria and soon thereafter entered the political arena as a member of the Nigerian Youth Movement.[6] He rose to become the movement's general secretary. However, the movement was soon embroiled in a crisis which dented its political support among the Nigerian masses. When the movement began to fade politically, he was one of the educated members of the Nigerian political class who joined the Action Group. He was the group's legal adviser in the early 1950s and was also a member of the Western region's privy council. He was elected into the Lagos Town Council in 1953 and was subsequently made chairman of the council. In 1957, he became the Western Region's Attorney General, the first Nigerian to be an attorney general. He was made
Queen's Counsel in 1958, another first for him, as he was one of the first two Nigerians to be made one.
Constitutional Conference
In 18 October 1975, Rotimi Williams became the chairman of the Constitutional Drafting Committee. The body was formed to present a draft constitution to be approved by the military administration of Obasanjo. He led the convention to present an agenda for broad coalition building across ethnic and regional lines. The body pushed for presidential winners to have at least 25% of the total votes cast in two thirds of the nineteen states in Nigeria and that each of the 19 states of the federation should have a minister representing them. The political parties should also have support in at least two thirds of the states. [7]
References
1. ^ "Frederick Rotimi Alade Williams (1920 – 2005)" Nigerian Guardian Editorial, The Guardian, Nigeria, 2 April 2005.
2. ^ The Man, His Life Max Amuchie.
3. ^ Ndubuisi Ugah (27 March 2010). "Five Years After, FRA Williams' Children Reconcile" . ThisDay. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
4. ^ By Femi Fani-Kayode, "In remembrance of Fani Power" , NigerDeltaCongress.com
5. ^ Taiwo Fakoyede (ed.), "F.R.A. Williams: Through the Cases". Longman, 2000. ISBN
978-026-010-2 .
6. ^ Richard L. Sklar, Nigerian Political Parties: Power in an Emergent African Nation, Africa World Press, 2004. p. 273.
ISBN 1-59221-209-3 .
7. ^ David B. Ottaway. "Nigeria Moves Toward U.S.-Style Democracy in Africa", The Washington Post , 25 April 1978.
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Terms of Use • Privacy • Desktop Frederick Rotimi Williams
Oloye Rotimi Williams
Regional Minister for Local Governm

Akintola Williams was Nigeria’s first chartered accountant. In 1952 he founded Akintola Williams & Co. , Nigeria's first indigenous accountancy firm. Through hard work and bold decision-making it grew to become what is today the country’s largest accountancy firm, employing over 600 people.
Early Life and Education
Akintola Williams was born in Lagos on August 9, 1919. He was the second son of T. Ekundayo Williams. Alongside his younger brother, Rotimi , who would go on to become one of Nigeria’s most famous lawyers, his formal education began at Baptist Academy, Lagos, in 1927. Following the completion of his secondary school education at CMS Grammar School in 1938, Akintola Williams went on to attend Yaba Higher College on a United African Company (UAC) scholarship from 1939 to 1941 where he attained a Diploma in Commerce. As a student at Yaba Higher College, he was not interested in pursuing a career in accountancy: surveying was what had piqued his interest, but he found that he was unable to explore this avenue of learning because the College did not offer courses in surveying. He then entertained the idea of studying actuarial science and was preparing to move to England in order to take the course when he met an expatriate named John Selby.
Training
Selby was a chartered accountant working for the Inland Revenue Department in Lagos who counselled and convinced Williams to seriously consider a career in accountancy. Both Williams and Nigeria would forever be grateful to Selby for his advice.
In 1944, Williams would leave Nigeria on a government scholarship for the United Kingdom in order to train as a chartered accountant. The first few months in England were an ordeal for the young man as the Second World War raged on and racial prejudice reigned. Very few accountancy firms were willing to take on coloured articled clerks. After months of searching for a job, Williams joined the firm of Binder Hamlyn & Co. as an articled clerk. In 1946 whilst serving his articles and studying for his accountancy examinations, he completed his degree in Commerce at the University of London. In December 1949 Williams passed the final examinations of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and was admitted as a member of the Institute early in 1950. With this achievement he became the first Nigerian chartered accountant.
Early Career
After qualifying as a chartered accountant, Williams took up employment with the Colonial office in London and was posted to Nigeria. He returned home in 1950 to take the post of Inspector of Taxes where he would work with John Selby, whose advice years earlier had prompted him to consider accountancy.
Akintola Williams & Co.
Williams soon resigned from his post at the Inland Revenue Department and set up his own firm. The firm of Akintola Williams & Co. was founded in May 1952 and was the first indigenous firm of accountants in Nigeria. This decision was a bold one, as he left behind a high salaried job with benefits such as free accommodation for a post with no assurance of steady income and intense competition with established international firms.
Operating out of his home in Obalende, the firm managed to survive its early years through the patronage of highly successful Nigerian entrepreneurs such as Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Timothy Odutola, Sir Odumegu Ojukwu and Sir Mobolaji Bank-Anthony. In October 1957, having grown steadily, Akintola Williams & Co. was able to admit its first partner: Charles Sankey. The firm would go from strength to strength, eventually becoming Nigeria's largest professional services firm following two mergers between April 1999 and May 2004. The firm today has more than 600 members of staff and operates under the name of Akintola Williams Deloitte.
Legacy
Akintola Williams motivated and mentored many young Nigerians who followed in his footsteps and became qualified chartered accountants in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In December 1960 he co-founded and was named the first president of the Association of Accountants in Nigeria. A strong believer in one unified body of accountants in Nigeria, he was one of those who worked tirelessly to achieve the incorporation of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) through an Act of Parliament in September 1965.
In 1982 the Nigerian Government honoured Williams with the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR). He retired from his firm in 1983 and was awarded ICAN's first ever Gold Medal Merit Award in 1988. In 1997, Queen Elizabeth II conferred the title of Commander of the British Empire (CBE) on him in recognition of his services to the accountancy profession and for his promotion of arts, culture and music through the Musical Society of Nigeria (MUSON), a project he began in 1993.
Sources:
1. A Short History of the Accountancy Profession in Nigeria by Musliu Alibaba
2. Entrepreneurship in Africa: a study of

How I became Nigeria’s first Professor of Medicine –Prof Oladipo Ogunlesi
— 8th January 2017
By Charles Adegbite
The doyen of Medicine in Nigeria, Professor Emeritus Theophilus Oladipo Ogunlesi, who trained the former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan and current Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, and many other professors and medical experts in Nigeria and abroad has given the nation and the medical profession across the world, the best in him. He became a medical doctor in 1947 and the first Professor of Medicine in Nigeria in 1965. The 93years old medical genius who was born to a blacksmith father in Sagamu (Ogun State), speaks on how he became a doctor, why he went into lecturing, how he became the first Professor of Medicine in Nigeria over 50years ago, the challenges the country is facing today, among other salient issues. Excerpts:
Could you tell us about yourself and your experience about Nigeria independence?
Well, I was born in Sagamu 93 years ago. I became a medical doctor in 1947. That’s through the Yaba Medical School. And I spent the period between 1947 to 1950 in Britain trying to improve on my Nigerian medical qualification so that I can be registered in England and subsequent steps after that to become a qualified medical officer . Or better still in 1960, I was already 37 years old when Nigeria became independent. So, at 37 I had done the most decisive things in my life, I got married at the age of 30 after I had completed my education. Then I became a specialist in the Western State Civil Service. Later, I became a senior lecturer at the University of Ibadan, and Professor of Medicine in 1965. I retired in 1983 at the age of 60. Those were the major steps of my life.
Can you tell us how you became the first professor of medicine in Nigeria?
I became a professor at the University of Ibadan in 1965. I joined the university in 1961 and I became a professor 4 years later and the year I became a senior lecturer and that was because I was already a specialist in the civil service. I joined at a time when Ibadan (UI) was ran mostly by expatriate teachers. So, I was one of the first Nigerian lecturers in Medicine. That’s why I became the first Nigerian professor of Medicine at University of Ibadan. I left the Western Region Civil Service to join the university. UCH (University College Hospital) Ade Oyo, as you may recall, which was part of the Western Region Civil Service, served as a temporary teaching hospital from 1948 to 1957 until UCH was completed. And when UCH was completed and ready for use, the university transferred the teaching structure from Ade Oyo to Orita Mefa.
At that time was it that they will have to ask you to leave the university and come to UCH?
There was a vacancy when the University College Hospital Ibadan was established in 1948 and they decided to have a Faculty of Medicine. They needed a teaching hospital. And they decided in 1948 that Ade Oyo Hospital Ibadan was the best place to start with. They expanded the Adeoyo Hospital tremendously with the hope that, because they were to receive London University degrees, and in the hope that an expanded Adeoyo will receive approval from London University. But that hope was dashed when a delegation from London visited in 1952, four years after they started and told the Nigeria government that London was not prepared to approve Ade Oyo as a teaching hospital, no matter what they did. That they had to build an entirely new hospital; purpose built, to be called the College Hospital.
That was how UCH Ibadan, came into being. They found a new site and built this fine structure designed by London University. That is what makes UCH the model for many African medical schools till today.
So when they moved out, I took over the Department of Medicine at Adeoyo, largely influenced by Chief Obafemi Awolowo who wanted Nigerians to be running the place, because it was ran by the white. Ade Oyo Teaching Hospital was ran by the British and they were teaching us up to that time. Since I have the qualifications I was promoted from Medical Officer to Specialist. When there was a vacancy in 1961 since I was not under any bond, I applied and that is how I got it. I had to transfer from the state civil service to the university. I was appointed as a senior lecturer, so I was a senior lecturer for four years and I was promoted to the post of a professor in 1965.
What actually prompted you into studying medicine at that time?
Well looking back, what I thought was an accident, must have been divine direction because some children, because their parents were rich, had already determined what profession they must follow and they had the funds to train them by sending them abroad. But my father was a blacksmith. So, if I were to follow any trade at all, I should have been a blacksmith or a farmer for that matter. Those were the two things since I did not belong to parents who had the money to send any of their children abroad. But, somehow, they managed to pay my school fees for secondary education at the CMS Grammar School, Lagos.
As it turned out, that was the time the government of the day was trying to promote post secondary education to public services. This was a colonial government. That was why they established the Yaba Higher College. And they recruited some of the best products in various secondary schools throughout the country, put them together and trained them in the various professions.
That Yaba Higher College had associated schools of Medicine, Agriculture, Engineering, all the professions. But they did not train full-fledged professionals, they trained what were called assistants. They were to be assistants to the university-trained. That was the philosophy of what they called the Yaba Higher College and I was educated under that same scheme. Higher college was flourishing when I left secondary school. And I won a scholarship therefore into that College of Medicine. That was how I got into Medicine.
The options was, I could have done teaching, because my principal actually wanted me to do Art so that I could come back to teach in the school. But there was a Doctor R. L. Oluwole, son of Bishop Oluwole, who was exemplary. He took an interest in the students of the school. I just thought I should be like him, which was why I preferred Medicine. If there was anybody who inspired me into studying medicine, Dr. Oluwole was one of them. When I wrote my autobiography at the age of 80, I titled it Medicine: My Passport, which I hope you must have read.
Why did you venture into lecturing in the university and not remain a medical doctor?
Well, a university lecturer or professor is a teacher. As long as education remains what it is, there must be the teacher and those to be taught. Since, I was taught by some people, I wanted to be like my teacher. So, in the subject of Medicine which is a composition of various disciplines, ophthalmologists, who take care of the eyes, surgeons who use knives, physicians who use stethoscopes, obstetricians who look at pregnant women etc. Each speciality has its own attractions.
So, once you enter a medical school, most students decide based on the influence their teachers have on them, which way they want to go. It takes seven years, or it took me seven years anyway to go through the first system, after leaving secondary school. And, as I said, there were not many specialists in my time but the few that we had influenced my decision to be a physician and to remain a surgeon.
That means your teacher motivated you into medicine?
Well, when you are a physician you can again either practice or teach. There was no university in my time but we had a school where there were teachers. And I preferred to teach, I preferred to teach in the sense that teaching has additional factor which practice does not have and that is research. Research for new knowledge is usually based in the university system. So, if you are interested in adding to knowledge or discovering what is not known, you will be part of a university system. What they called tertiary education. Research goes around tertiary education.
If you look at the way medicine is being practiced in Nigeria today especially as many doctors and nurses are going abroad seeking greener pasture to get better pay, what will you say actually is wrong in Nigeria?
The difference is between a good government and bad government, a government that does not provide sufficient funds for education or sufficient funds for running the hospitals, you can’t expect good results. So, underfunding is the major factor. When all the money has gone into the kind of things we read about now in the newspapers, there is nothing left.

Professor Ekundayo Adeyinka Adeyemi: Popularly referred to as the grand father of Architecture in Nigeria, his professional and University teaching career spans over a period of 44 years, 36 of which had been devoted to teaching, research and University administration.
[size=14pt] Summary of Profile [/size]
Professor EA Adeyemi, a retired Professor of Architecture joined the services of the Covenant University in January 2005, having retired from the Federal university of Technology in January 2002. He was the Ag. Vice Chancellor of the University before retirement. Professor Adeyemi had his University Degree education first, at the Ahmadu Bello University (1958-1963) and later at the Columbia University, New York (1963-64 and the New York University, New York (1971-74) where he obtained higher degrees in Architecture and Urban Planning. (MS Arch; M.UP; Ph.D). He is a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Architects. He has made significant Contributions to Architectural Education and Practice both within and outside Nigeria.
He was the first Chairman of the Board of Education, Research and Technology, Africa Union of Architects (1985-86) during which he completed a survey of Architectural Education in Africa and authored the publication of the Report sponsored by the AUA and the UNESCO (1986).
A Nominated Speaker at the African World Congress of the International Union of Architects in Cairo (1985) he was also a key participant, Conference on Architectural Education in the Islamic world organised in Granada, Spain in April 1986.
He is a Nominator for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture and he also represented the Africa Union of Architects in the UN Economic Commission Expert Group meeting on Regional Human settlements in Addis Ababa in 1983.
Professor Adeyemi is a fully registered Architect by the Architects Council of Nigeria (ARCON), a Fellow of the Nigeria Institute of Architects (NIA), and of the Association of Architect-Educators in Nigeria (AARCHES) He was a founding Council member of ARCON (1970-84) and also a founding Council member of the Africa Union of Architects (AUA).
He has held several awards which include the Fellowship of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and of the Africa- America Institute (AAI). Over a period of active academic pursuits, spanning thirty-three years before retirement he has mentored several junior colleagues who have later become senior academics including professors. In the time spent in Zaria and Akure, he has supervised hundreds of Master's degree theses, more than twelve Ph. D Theses, two of which are in universities outside Nigeria, namely, Cambridge University, and the University Dundee, Scotland. Presently at Covenant University, he has mentored successfully three Ph.D degree holders and some others are in also the pipeline. He lectures History of Modern Architecture, Research Methods and directs and supervises students Research projects. He is a major actor in organising and supervising postgraduate thesis (Msc; PhD). He continues to offer and offering sound academic leadership. He has been invited on several occasions to give talks within the University and among professional colleagues in the NIA.
http://www.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/Profiles/Adeyemi-Ekundayo-Adeyinka
Here is an interview he had on February 27, 2007 on his 7oth birthday.
In this interview he talked about his life odyssey
GROWING UP DAYS
Sir, can you tell us about your child hood?
My mother was a very young woman when she married my father in 1933, but unfortunately, she did not start giving birth until 1937 when I was born. She had recurring stillbirths and miscarriages. Because of limited knowledge at that time, it was deduced that there were some forces responsible for her problems. So, when I was conceived, she ran away from Jebba to Ilorin, to a particular compound, for protection. I was, however, born safe and sound at a General Hospital. After that, mother and child had to go back to where my father was in Jebba, and that was where I grew up.
Now, midway through my primary school, at the age of eight, my father, who was then working as the head of the local shed at the Nigerian Railway was transferred to Lagos But at that time we could not all go with him, he went with the seniors and I had to stay at Offa, with the most senior wife. I joined him in Lagos in 1948, but I was there for just one year before we were moved again. And by 1949, after being in the service for 30 years, a rare thing in those days, my father retired from the Nigerian Railways. It was real celebration all the way. We now moved down to my hometown in Ekiti.
Before we left Lagos, precisely in 1945, I was in standard 5 and I took the entrance examination into Christ School, Ado Ekiti and passed but my mother did not want me to go because she felt I was too young to be separated from her. So I could not go to secondary school at that time and unfortunately when I got to my hometown I could not pass the exam again. By 1950, I wanted to get in by all means so I had to go and live with the Master (a school teacher). I did not get in until 1952 when I started my class one and did not finish until 1956. Christ School was one of the best schools in those days where students use to make it in grade one, and many of its products are now professors all over Nigerian universities.
What where those striking experiences you had while growing up?
These experiences would include the environment in which I grew up. It was during the war years, 1939-1945 was the period of the 2nd World War. I was about two years old when the war started and only eight when it ended. My peers and I had these military sensibilities; we dressed like soldiers, we had small groups commanded by leaders, exactly in a military way. Nostalgically, at times, I still wonder if those guys then that we all grew together are still alive or dead.
Also, where we lived, at Railway Quarters, overlooked the River Niger, so at a distance you could just view the River Niger and also the railway station, which was very close to the house. The United Missionary School, the primary school that I attended was on a hilltop with flowers all round it. When I look back, I see people I have gone to school with who are now professors and have made marks in various works of life, many alive, a few dead and all this gives me memories and I feel very nostalgic about it.
In other words I grew up in an atmosphere of love where people shared things, no hatred. My dad and his colleagues would come together and eat from the same dishes and I think that is the greatest demonstration of love that I have seen and which I still want to see, it’s not common this days where there’s so much secrecy and self centeredness.
EARLY TEACHING EXPERIENCE
I started a teaching career at a nearby village, Ikere Ekiti. I was there for about 13 years. I was under 20, but the kind of responsibility that I took on then astounds me today. I was games master and also English Literature teacher. Anytime I taught, the Principal of the school would come and sit in my class. I do not know why but perhaps he use to think this small boy, or perhaps, I had a special way of teaching and it was nothing spectacular as all I did was imitate my former principal in Christ school, Rev. L.D Mason, a white man, who would transfer us from Ado-Ekiti to wherever context was situated. For instance, when he taught us about the Tale of Two Cities, you could practically see yourself in the streets of France and you could see the hangman loose. He really sensitized us on the power of vision. So, I just imitated him. I was very good at reading; I think this impressed my principal.
PROFESSIONAL TUTELAGE
Then suddenly, my brother came back from England, he had just completed his own architectural studies at that time. In addition to my ability to express myself in English at that time, I could also express myself in drawing and painting. As a young man, less than 20 then, I would just sit by the window and paint whatever I saw. I will look at the hill view with its lush green field and the rock sticking out from the lushness of the green and I would start painting. So when my brother came, he said, you shouldn’t be here, come with me to Lagos and that was how I followed him. I left the school without even saying goodbye and today I still regret that because that was not a good way of departing with people who loved you.
In Lagos, I did not bother to look for a job because my brother just wanted me to stay in the house and to imitate him, to study him and learn architectural draftsmanship. I did this fast enough and within six months I had started doing drawings on my own. Later I got a job with the Federal Ministry of Works at the Surveys Department where I was a draftsman. It was from there that I gained admission in 1958, to the Nigerian College to do Architecture. I was then invited for the Federal Government Scholarship interview and by the time my brother already groomed me so I just got the scholarship with ease. I think I must have impressed them so much because I was there with those who were already studying architecture. I enjoyed the scholarship through out my days in school as an architectural student, and up till now I have never spent my money on study; it was always one type of sponsorship or the other.
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As we all know, Yoruba people are the pacesetters in Nigeria, Africa and in some cases, the world at large. We are the head, never the tail. Here are a few of Yorubas who have comfortably enshrined their names in the record book.
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Abimbola Awoliyi is Nigeria’s first female doctor
-Kolapo Hamzat is the youngest professor of physiotherapy in Nigeria and Africa
-Adegoke olubunmo is the first professor of Mathematics in Africa
-Momodu Mosobalaje Olaloye is the first African professor of Geology
-Dele Olojede is the first and only African to win a Pulitzer prize
-Abimbola jayeola is Nigeria’s First Female Helicopter Pilot
-William Akinola Dawodu was the first Nigerian car importer, he started importing cars into Nigeria in 1905
-Prof. Jade Akande was the first female professor of law in West Africa
-Kofo Ademola is the first black woman to receive an undergraduate degree from Oxford University
-Dr. Olaoluwa Hallowed Oluwadara is the youngest African PHD Holder in Mathematics
-Deborah Enilo Ajakaiye is the first female physics professor in Africa and also the first black African to be named a fellow of the Geological society of London
-Wole Soyinka is the first black and only African to win a Nobel prize for literature
-Thomas Adesanya ige grillo is the first Nigerian professor of anatomy
-Taslim Elias is the first African to be president of the International Court of Justice (World Court)
-Folake Folarin-Coker the first African-based fashion designer to stage a show twice at the New York Fashion Week
-Latunde Odeku is the first US-trained black neurosurgeon and the 1st professor of neuro-surgery in Nigeria.
-Bode Thomas created the First indigenous Nigerian law firm
-I.K dairo is the first Nigerian to be conferred title of Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE
-Amzat Beyioku Adebowale is The first Nigerian to bring Sharp range of electronic products in Nigeria
-Prof. Taiyewo Kolawole is the first Nigerian neuro-radiologist
-Prof. Arinola Olasumbo Sanya is the first female Professor of Physiotherapy in Africa.
-Dr. Olu Jaiyebo is The first Agronomist in Nigeria.
Professor Micheal Adepoju Adeyemo is The first Nigerian Chartered Accountant
-Latola Films was the 1st film production company in Nigeria
-Prof. Ilesanmi Adesida, is the first black Vice-Chancellor in an american unversity
-Mrs. Sade Thomas-Fahm is the First woman to own a boutique in Nigeria
-Nojim Maiyegun is the first Nigerian to win an Olympic medal
-Adenike Osofisan is the first African Female Professor of Computer Science.
-Prof T.O Ogunlesi is the first professor of Medicine in Nigeria
-Chief Akintola Williams is the First African to qualify as a chartered accountant
-Ezekiel Adekunle Ifaturoti is the first mining engineer in Nigeria
-Rotimi Adebari is the First black mayor of Ireland
-Folake Solanke is the First Female Senior Advocate of Nigeria
-Elizabeth Abimbola is the First Nigerian Female Doctor-1937
-Helen Folasade Adu is the First Nigerian-born artist to win a Grammy-1986
-Prof. Bolanle Awe: Nigeria's first female Professor of History
-Professor Thomas Adeoye Lambo is Africa’s first professor of psychiatry.
-Engineer Dr. (Mrs.) Olatokubo A Somolu: is Nigeria’s first Female to hold a PHD in Engineering
-Mrs Adetowun Ogunsheye is The first female professor in Nigeria
-Mrs bisoye esther tejuosho is Nigeria’s first female industrialist
-Michael Onafowokan is Nigeria’s first Architect 1952
-Aderonke Kale is the first Female Nigerian Armed Forces (2 Star) Major General:
-Chief (Dr.) Bola Kuforiji Olubi is The first Female Chartered Accountant in Nigeria
-George Olatokunbo Okikiolu, has written more mathematics papers than any other Black mathematician in history
-Katherline okikiolu is the first black person to win the most prestigious award for young mathematics researchers in the United States and the first black woman to publish an article in the Annals of Mathematics
-Samuel Layinka Ayodeji invented the excision knife to treat tropical ulcers. he won the Robert Wilson Memorial Prize in Chemistry and the Welcome Prize in Medicine.
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Courtesy: Abu Hammaad Adedayo.


Op treat!

Name of Chief Justice of Nigeria | Term * Adetokunbo Ademola | 1958-1972 * Taslim Olawale Elias | 1972-1975 * Darnley Arthur Alexander | 1975-1979 * Atanda Fatai Williams | 1979-1983 * George Sodeinde Sowemimo | 1983-1985 * Ayo Gabriel Irikefe | 1985-1987 * Mohammed Bello | 1987-1995 * Muhammad Lawal Uwais | 1995-2006 * Salihu Moddibo Alfa Belgore | 2006-2007 * Idris Legbo Kutigi | 2007-2009 * Aloysius Iyorgyer Katsina-Alu | 2009-2011 * Dahiru Musdapher | 2011-2012 * Aloma Mariam Mukhtar | 2012-2014 (First female Chief Justice of Nigeria) * Mahmud Mohammed | 2014-2016 * Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen | 2017-present Kindly share on social media and

First and only black president of world court


Taslim Olawale Elias (11 November 1914 – 14 August 1991) was a Nigerian jurist. He was Attorney-General and Chief Justice of Nigeria and a judge and President of the
International Court of Justice. He was a scholar who modernised and extensively revised the laws of Nigeria.
Youth and studies
Elias was born into the traditional aristocracy of Lagos , then the capital of Nigeria, on 11 November 1914. [1] He received his secondary education at the
Church Missionary Society Grammar School and Igbobi College in Lagos. He married Ganiat Yetunde Fowosere, and the couple would have five children together (three sons, two daughters). After passing the Cambridge School Certificate examination, he worked as an assistant in the Government Audit Department. In 1935 he joined the Nigerian Railway and served in the Chief Accountant's Office for nine years.
While working at the Nigerian Railway Elias became an external student of London University, and later he passed the intermediate examinations for the B.A. and LL.B degrees. He left Nigeria for the United Kingdom in 1944 and was admitted to
University College London . As this was during World War II, with London the target of frequent bomb attacks, he spent some time at Cambridge's Trinity College. He graduated with a B.A. the year he entered University College London and two years later received the LL.B. In 1947 he was
called to the bar at the Inner Temple, where he was a Yarborough Anderson Scholar, and in the same year received his LL.M degree. He continued his graduate education and became the first African to earn a PhD in law from the University of London in 1949. [2][3]
In 1951 Elias was awarded a UNESCO Fellowship to undertake research into the legal, economic, and social problems of Africa. Later that year he had his first academic appointment, the Simon Senior Research Fellow at Manchester University . There he was an instructor in law and social anthropology. It was also in 1951 that he published his first book, Nigerian Land Law and Custom.
Professional life
Elias moved from Manchester to Oxford in 1954 when he became the Oppenheimer Research Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, Nuffield College and Queen Elizabeth House. He continued his research into Nigerian law and published Groundwork of Nigerian Law in the same year. In 1956 he was visiting professor of political science at the University of Delhi. He was instrumental in organising courses in government, law, and social anthropology and in establishing the African Studies Department. Elias also lectured at the universities of Aligarh, Allahabad, Bombay, and Calcutta. In that year he also published two books, Makers of Nigerian Law and The Nature of African Customary Law.
He returned to London in 1957 and was appointed a Governor of the School of Oriental and African Studies. As the constitutional and legal adviser to the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (which later became the National Convention of Nigerian Citizens), he participated in the 1958 Nigerian Constitutional Conference in London. He was one of the architects of Nigeria's independence constitution
In 1960 Elias was invited to become Nigeria's Attorney-General and Minister of Justice. [4] He served in this capacity through the whole of the first republic. Although later dismissed after the coup d'état in January 1966, he was reinstated in November of that year.
In addition to contributing to Nigerian and African law, Elias had long been active in field of international law. [5] He was a member of the United Nations International Law Commission from 1961 to 1975, he served as General Rapporteur from 1965 to 1966 and was its chairman in 1970. [5] He was the leader of the Nigerian delegations to the conference held to consider the Draft Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States in 1963 and to the Special Committee on the Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States in 1964. [5] He was a member of the United Nations Committee of Experts which drafted the constitution of the Congo, 1961–1962. He also helped to draft the charter of the Organization of African Unity (O.A.U.), and its Protocol of Mediation, Conciliation and Arbitration.[5] Elias also represented the O.A.U. and Nigeria before the International Court of Justice in the proceedings concerning the status of
Namibia .[5] He was elected as an associate member of the Institut de droit international in 1969. [5] He was Chairman of the Committee of the Whole at the Vienna Conference on the Law of Treaties (1968–1969). [6]
In 1966 Elias was appointed Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Lagos. Four years earlier he had received the LL.D. degree from the University of London for his work on African law and British colonial law. (He would go on to receive a total of 17 honorary doctorate degrees from various universities around the world[5] ). He was one the inaugural recipients of the Nigerian National Merit Award in 1979. [7] Several of his works on various legal subjects[5] were standard reading in Africa in law schools of the former British colonies.
Later in 1966, Elias was re-appointed as Nigeria's Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice (a position he held while remaining Dean and Professor at the University of Lagos), until 1972, when he became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.[4] He was ousted from this position by a military regime that took power in Nigeria at the end of July 1975.
A few months later (in October 1975), he was elected by the General Assembly and the Security Council of the United Nations to the
International Court of Justice at The Hague .[4] In 1979, he was elected Vice-President by his colleagues on that Court. In 1981, after the death of Sir Humphrey Waldock, the President of the Court, he took over as Acting President. In 1982, the members of the Court elected him President of the Court. He thus became the first African jurist to hold that honour. Five years later, Elias was also appointed to the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague.
Death
Elias died on 14 August 1991, in Lagos, Nigeria. The names of his five children are Gbolahan, Olusoji, Olufemi, Yeside and Olufolake Elias.
Relatives
Through his niece, Joy Elias Rilwan by her marriage, he is related to the Hon. James Lascelles of Harewood. Lascelles is a first cousin, once removed, of Queen Elizabeth II and in line of succession to the British throne.
See also
United Nations Security Council Resolution 708
References
1. ^ Olaniyonu, Yusuph (18 September 2009). "Nigeria: Between Elias, Williams And Gani" . allAfrica.com.
2. ^ "Taslim O. Elias, 76, Is Dead in Nigeria; Headed World Court" . The New York Times . 15 August 1991.
3. ^ Dickie John; Rake Alan (1973). Who is Who in Africa . p. 330. ISBN 0-9502755-0-6 .
4. ^ a b c "ICJ Communiqué" (PDF). International Court of Justice. 15 August 1991.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Emmanuel G. Bello; Prince Bola Ajibola (1992). Essays in Honour of Judge Taslim Olawale Elias . The Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff. pp. xv–xx.
ISBN 0-7923-1426-3 .
6. ^ "United Nations Conference on the Law of Treaties" (pdf). United Nations. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
7. ^ "Recipients from 1979:Prof. Olawale Elias" . Nigerian National Merit Award. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
Content is available under CC BY-SA 3.0 unless otherwise noted.
Terms of Use • Privacy • Desktop Taslim Olawale Elias
Taslim Olawale Elias
QC LLD CFR GCON
International Court of Justice (1979). From right: president Sir Humphrey Waldock , vice-president Taslim Olawale Elias
President
International Court of Justice
In office
1982–1985
Vice-President
International Court of Justice
In office
1979–1982
Judge
International Court of Justice
In office
1976–1991
Preceded by Charles D. Onyeama
Succeeded by Prince Bola Ajibola
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria
In office
1972–1975

Deborah Enilo Ajakaiye (born 1940) is a
Nigerian geophysicist. She is the first female physics professor in Africa and her work in
geophysics has played an important role in mining in Nigeria.[1]
Early life and education
Ajakaiye was born in 1940 in the city of Jos, the capital of Plateau State in Nigeria. She was the fifth of sixth children. Her parents believed in equal education of the sexes and distributed household chores among both the male and female children. In 1962 she graduated from the University of Ibadan with a degree in physics. She received a master's degree at the University of Birmingham in England, and in 1970 received her Ph.D. in geophysics from Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria. Originally interested in mathematics, Ajakaiye says she chose to pursue geophysics because she believed it could help her country. [1]
Career
Ajakaiye became the first female professor of physics in Africa in 1980. She has taught at Ahmadu Bello University and the University of Jos, serving as the dean of natural sciences at the latter. Her work with geovisualization has been used to locate both mineral deposits and groundwater in Nigeria. She has also created a gravity map of Nigeria,[2] working with several of her female students. [1] Ajakaiye stated that many male scientists had changed their perception of women scientists after interacting with her and her students. [3] After retirement she devoted her time to a Nigeria-based charity, CCWA, [4] which she had founded in 1991.
Awards
Ajakaiye has been recognized for both her scientific advancements and her aid to the nation of Nigeria. The Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society honored her for her work, making her the first woman to receive the award. She was also the first black African to be named a fellow of the
Geological Society of London .[1]

First African to be awarded Dsc in mechanical engineering under age 40.

Ayodele Oluwatuminu Awojobi (12 March 1937 – 23 September 1984), also known by the nicknames "Dead Easy", [1] "The Akoka Giant", and "Macbeth", was a Nigerian academic, author, inventor, social crusader and activist.[2][3] He was considered a scholarly genius by his teachers and peers alike. [4][5] He quickly advanced in his field to become the youngest professor in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Lagos , Nigeria in 1974. Earlier the same year, he became the first African to be awarded the degree of Doctor of Science (DSc) in Mechanical Engineering at the then Imperial College of Science and Technology, London (now Imperial College London) [2] – a degree only exceptionally and rarely awarded to a scholar under the age of 40 .
His research papers, particularly in the field of vibration, are still cited by international research fellows in Engineering as lately as the year 2011, [6] and are archived by such publishers as the Royal Society.[7]
Early life
Born in Oshodi, Lagos State, Awojobi's father, Chief Daniel Adekoya Awojobi, was a stationmaster at the Nigerian Railway Corporation who hailed from Ikorodu in Lagos State. His mother, Comfort Bamidele Awojobi (née Adetunji), was a petty trader who hailed from Modakeke, Ile-Ife, Osun State. Between 1942 and 1947, he attended St. Peter's Primary School, Faji, Lagos .[5]
It was while at his secondary school, the
CMS Grammar School, Lagos , that his academic traits began to manifest. Not only was he seen to be gifted in mathematics and the sciences, he was comfortable also in the
arts, becoming a member of the school's literary and debating society. It was during this period that he earned the nickname, "Macbeth": William Shakespeare's famous play, Macbeth, was to be staged in the school. The lead actor took ill a week before, and so Ayodele was called upon to play the lead role in his stead. It is said that not only did Ayodele master his lines as lead actor, but also the entire play, such that he was able to prompt the cast whenever they forgot their lines. [5]
Academic achievements
Ayodele was a straight-A's secondary school student, while at the CMS Grammar school, passing his West African School Certificate examinations with a record eight distinctions in 1955. He proceeded to the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology, Ibadan, for his General Certificate of Examinations, GCE (Advanced Level), where in 1958 he sat for, and obtained distinctions in all his papers: Physics, Pure Mathematics and Applied Mathematics. In 1962 Awojobi was awarded his first degree in Mechanical Engineering – a BSc (Eng) London, with first class honours, at the then Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology, Zaria (now
Ahmadu Bello University , Zaria). [5] He had studied there on a federal government scholarship won on the merit of his performance in the GCE (Advanced-level) examinations of 1958. [5]
It was said by Akintola Ajai (himself an engineering graduate of the University of London ), that when Awojobi arrived at the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology, Zaria, he boasted openly saying that it was his intention to finish the whole course within a period of three years only; an impracticable feat due to the fact that nowhere was the BSc Mechanical Engineering curriculum designed to run less than four years. Ayodele accomplished it in three years just as he had predicted. [8]
The federal government awarded Awojobi another scholarship in 1962 to study further at the post-graduate level in the field of Mechanical Engineering at the Imperial College of the University of London (now Imperial College London). He completed the course, successfully defending his thesis, and was awarded a PhD in Mechanical Engineering in 1966. [9]
Landmark degree award
After a period teaching at the University of Lagos , he returned to the Imperial College London for a research study in the field of
Vibration, and was awarded the degree of Doctor of Science, DSc. He was the first African to be awarded the Doctor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering, at the Imperial College London. [5]
The first university to admit an individual to this degree was in fact the University of London in 1860. [10]
The status of the degree has declined, however, because it is not widely understood but in former times the doctorate in science was regarded as a greater distinction than a professorial chair. It is in fact a higher tier of research doctorates , awarded on the basis of a formally submitted portfolio of published research of a very high standard. [citation needed]
To have received the award at the age of 37 is significant, more so as the degree is only
exceptionally and rarely awarded to a scholar under the age of 40. [citation needed]

First Nigerian Vice Chancellor in American University.


Ilesanmi Adesida (born 1949, Ifon, Ondo State, Nigeria) is a naturalized American[1]
physicist of Yoruba Nigerian descent. [2] He has been the provost at Nazarbayev University in Astana, Kazakhstan from September 2016. [3]
Adesida is also the Donald Biggar Willett Professor Emeritus of Engineering [4] at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign [5] ; he retired from Illinois in 2016. In May 2012, the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois selected Adesida to be the next vice chancellor for academic affairs and provost of the Urbana campus , a position he held from August 15, 2012 [6] to August 31, 2015. Other positions that Adesida held at Illinois included Dean of the College of Engineering , Director of the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, Director of the Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Professor of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology , and Professor of the Coordinated Science Laboratory . Adesida was also a member of the board of Fluor Corporation from 2007 to 2011. [7] .
Adesida's field of academic research is
nanotechnology with special emphasis on high speed devices used in communications. His research expertise also includes nanofabrication science and technology, high-speed optoelectronic devices and wide-bandgap materials and devices.[8]
Adesida earned his bachelor’s (1974), master’s (1975), and doctoral (1979) degrees in electrical engineering from the
University of California, Berkeley.
Research
Adesida is an expert in the processing of semiconductors and other materials at the
nanometer-scale level and in ultra-high-speed
heterostructure field-effect transistors—the sort of transistors used in cell-phones , fiber optics communications, deep space communications, and other applications. His contributions have provided insights into the limits of advanced lithography and other
nanofabrication techniques.
He and his students continue to work in the areas of nanoelectronics and high-speed
optoelectronic devices and circuits. Recent work has focused on the development of devices and circuits in the key materials such as indium phosphide and gallium nitride utilized in high-performance wireless , optical fiber communications, and high temperature applications. He has published over 350 referenced papers, has presented over 250 papers at international conferences, and has written many book chapters.
Professional organizations and honors
Adesida is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the
American Vacuum Society, and the Optical Society of America .
He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering , the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society, the Nigerian Academy of Engineering, the Materials Research Society, and the Society for Engineering Education.
In 1994, he received the Oakley-Kunde Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Education from Illinois, and in 1996 he won the Best Paper Award at the Micro- and Nano-Engineering Conference. In 2011, he was awarded the Electrons Devices Society Distinguished Service Award by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers . In 2016, he won the Functional Materials John Bardeen Award from The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society.
At Illinois he was appointed a University Scholar and an Associate Member of the Center for Advanced Study. He is a former president of the IEEE Electron Device Society, [9] a winner of the EMSA Presidential Student Award; an IEEE Electron Device Society Distinguished Lecturer (1997–2002); a member of the Bohmische Physical Society (1988); and the holder of an IBM Postdoctoral Fellowship (1979–1981).
In 2013 he was selected by the Carnegie Foundation of America as a 2016 Great Immigrant Honoree . [10][11]
Education and academic posts
1974: B.Sc , Electrical Engineering ,
University of California, Berkeley
1975: M.Sc , Electrical Engineering, University of California at Berkeley
1979: PhD , Electrical Engineering, University of California at Berkeley
1979-1984: Research Associate , Cornell University
1985-1987: Head, Electrical Engineering Department, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University , Bauchi , Nigeria
2000-2005: Director, Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2001-2012: Director, Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2005–2012: Dean, College of Engineering,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2012-2015: Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Provost, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
1987–2016: Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2016-Present: Provost at Nazarbayev University,Astana, Kazakhstan [12]
Books
Science and Technology in Africa, ISBN
978-1-59221-112-8
Patents
US Patent 5880482 - Low dark current photodetector[13][14]

First professor of Geology in Africa. Olayooye Oyawole.

As has become the tradition over the past several years, the world will literally descend on Offa, Kwara state, in North Central Nigeria on August 12 to celebrate one of Africa’s greatest sons. Occasion is the birthday celebration of Professor Muhammad Jamiu Mosobalaje Olayooye Oyawoye, CFR, the Aremo (Crown prince) of Offa and Africa’s first professor of geology who turns eighty-eight on the day.
This piece is not intended to join the unnecessary debate as to which individual, dead or alive, is the greatest individual to emerge from Offa because the controversy appears closed because even those that ignited it realize the futility of their effort. Nevertheless, this piece should be seen as what it was intended to be: a deserved tribute to an icon who, without any doubt, remains the most recognized, the most decorated and the most respected individual who singularly placed Offa on the world map.
For most people in the evening of their life, the next natural thing to do is to commence the process of stock-taking. At 88, Baba Oyawoye or Aremo Mosobalaje, as Professor Oyawoye is variously referred to, is in the evening of a well spent life: a life dotted by selfless service to humanity. It is safe to say Baba has been taking stock for the better part of the last three decades when he returned to his birthplace to busy himself with improving the lives of members of a community that has largely been appreciative of his achievements. Save for party politics which Baba wisely avoids, there is hardly any aspect of community life in Offa that Baba’s wise counsel has not been sought.
Born August 12, 1927, Professor Oyawoye, geologist, teacher, researcher, field worker, ambassador of peace, religious cum community leader and a bridge was educated at Offa and Ibadan till 1949 and later worked at the Geological Survey of Nigeria from 1950 to 1952. The brief spell at the Geological Survey of Nigeria must have made a great impression on his young mind because it was from here that he began a career that turned him into Africa’s first Professor of Geology fourteen years later. Between 1952 and 1959 he was at the Washington State University at Pullman in the United States, for his bachelors and the University of Durham in the United Kingdom where he took his doctorate degree.
After seven unbroken years abroad Baba Oyawoye returned to Nigeria and took up a teaching appointment at the University of Ibadan where he played a pivotal role in the establishment of the department of geology. That was in 1959. Seven years later, he was appointed Professor of Geology. Now Offa community did not only have her first Professor, but the community, by the feat of one man, provided the African continent her first Professor of geology. Many landmarks bears his name at the University of Ibadan where Professor Oyawoye groomed the nation’s and Africa’s first generation of geologists.
The academia helped shape Baba Oyawoye’s world view and actually prepared him for life’s endless battles. In fact, elders of Offa even today still discuss with nostalgia how Baba Oyawoye was the clear choice of Offa kingmakers when the throne of Olofa was to be filled in 1970. Baba was 43 and must have reasoned that a life of seclusion in a palace, inspite of its attraction to some, was not his line. He reportedly turned down the offer, politely, and continued the search for more experience which he was to later deploy to impact on his community. It turned out to be a well thought out decision.
Very few people in Offa who will fail to attest to Professor Oyawoye’s love for his community. He has, since the 1960’s been involved in virtually all projects aimed out lifting Offa and her residents. Three years ago, Baba spoke passionately about his life ambition of witnessing the establishment of the first university in the town. That day may not be far off as two universities have been planned for Offa. One of them, in which Baba Oyawoye has been very prominent is the Summit University, Offa: the other is the proposed University of Offa. Without any doubt, two universities is a brilliant idea in a community that also hosts a federal and private polytechnic, a college of education, a specialized naval institution, a school of health technology, a school of Basic and Remedial studies and a study centre of the National Open University of Nigeria, NOUN to cater for the educational needs of Offa and its environs. It is in recognition of this love for community that Professor Oyawoye was named
Aremo Offa more than five decades ago.
Now, this love for community and service to humanity has not been devoid of some draw backs. And Baba Oyawoye by his upbringing, education and training knows very well that no man attains the status and stature he has without somebody waiting for the slightest opportunity to jump on their backs. And Baba has such a fat back capable of carrying everything that comes his way. Such irritants abound in Offa but Baba’s luck is that those who sneer at him in the past clearly did so out of ignorance. Or, how do we describe a man, barely literate, who publicly claimed a Professorship obtained in 1966, when he was not born, was worthless as the 60’s, in his words, were years of ignorance in education!
Baba has seen it all and conquered all. He is one of Nigeria’s most decorated intellectuals and certainly one of Africa’s best gift to the world. He is a man widely respected across Nigeria and widely honoured abroad. And for his contribution to the world of research, he was given the national honour of Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic, CFR, and has a street named after him in a strategic location in Abuja, Nigeria’s federal capital city. It is a mark of his humility that Baba’s home has become a mecca of sort for people from far and near to consult and tap from Baba’s wealth of experience. A sign of the good health he enjoys is that, even in his late 80’s, Baba still have the strength to travel out of his domain to attract more goodwill for his community.
By their nature, old lions purr; they do not roar. But in Professor Oyawoye, we have one old lion that roars with dignity. As family members, friends, well-wishers, former colleagues and students from far and near and an entire community unite to celebrate an icon, Professor Oyawoye should, in his characteristic humility, accept the honour, in a manner of speaking, of being a tree that makes a forest.
Happy birthday, Baba Aremo!

The IPOB should stop abusing and misbehave to us Yorubas.. We have help you strived even in your language can you see the reasons.. we developed your orthography...

First female professor in Nigeria.

Prof Adetowun Ogunsheye, Nigeria’s first female professor, turns 90

Professor Felicia Adetowun Ogunsheye, the first Nigerian female to study at Cambridge University and first female professor in Nigeria, will clock 90 years on Tuesday, 5 December, 2016.
Centre for Educational Media Resource Studies in conjunction with Department of Library, Archival and Information Studies, University of Ibadan, is organising a symposium in her honour to commemorate the day.
The theme of the symposium is ‘Library and information science in the contemporary time.’ The event will hold on Tuesday, November 29, at the Trenchard Hall, University of Ibadan, by 11.00a.m.
Aside being the first woman to study and successfully completed her studies at the Yaba Higher College Diploma programme, she was the first female Dean of Education in a Nigerian university, University of Ibadan, between 1977 and 1979. An accomplished librarian, educationist and women development issues, Professor Ogunsheye has written and published well over 50 publications and 30 communications.
She is currently the president of Ogunsheye Foundation, a non-governmental organisation with focus on research in library foundation for students.
She has been engaged in voluntary public service since 1959 when she became the president of Women Improvement Society.
She also belongs to several organisations, which included Council of Women Societies, International Alliance for Women, West African Council’ for Women Societies, National Association of University Women Societies, Western Nigerian, Zonta International, Nigerian Association of University Women, International Board of Books for Youth and Federation of Bodija Residents Association, among others..

Dr. Abimbola Ayodeji Abolarinwa is first female Urologist in Nigeria Her medical career started in 2004 after graduating from University of Ibadan. She worked as a Medical officer for 2 years before she commenced her residency training at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja.
In 2013 she became qualified to practice as a Urologist and emerged as the first female Urologist in Nigeria. She’s currently working as a Urologist in the Department of Surgery of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, (LASUTH) Ikeja.

Elizabeth Abimbola Awoliyi was the first female physician in Nigeria. She earned her medical degree in 1938 from the University of Dublin, Cafreys College and advanced from junior medical officer at the Massey Street Hospital Lagos, to chief consultant and Medical Director at that hospital, holding the latter position from 1960 through 1969. She was also appointed as a Senior Specialist Gynaecologist and Obstetrician in 1962 by the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Health

bkool7:
Lets not derail the thread

But if it is Igbo thread u guys will derail it hypocrite.

Professor Remi Sonaiya i s the first woman in Nigeria to seek the highest seat in the land running as the Presidential flag bearer under the Kowa Party at the recently concluded 2015 Nigerian Presidential Elections. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts in French from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) graduating with the best result in her faculty and also received a PhD in linguistics from Cornell University. She became a professor of French Language and Applied Linguistics in 2001.

NIGERIA FIRST RADIO STATION .

The Radio Broadcasting started in Nigeria in the year 1933. The very first Radio Distribution System was installed in Lagos. It was governed by the Department of Post And Telegraphs. The primary goal of the radio system was to serve as the BBC reception base. In 1935, the system was changed to the Radio Diffusion System, which later served in the Second World War.
A few years later, in 1939, the Ibadan Station was created.

op.
I think Ojukwu is right, igbo is well marginalized in Nigeria!

The first foreigner Radio Broadcaster in Niger Republic in Yoruba
Oladoja Wahab
Eto Omoluabi
Radio Kakaki
1987

THE FIRST HOUSING ESTATE IN NIGERIA

The first Housing Estate in Nigeria- the Bodija Housing Estate in the city of Ibadan , oyo state , south western Nigeria was also built and developed in 1958.
Bodija is a district in Ibadan , Oyo State , Nigeria . The region gained prominence with the development of like named high brow estate shortly after the Independence of Nigeria. There are two of such estates within the region. Old Bodija and New Bodija. The estate is home to many popular schools within the state. It is also home to Bodija Market which is one of the largest Markets in Ibadan .

oladeebo:
op.
I think Ojukwu is right, igbo is well marginalized in Nigeria!

no body marginalize anybody here .. this thread show how well civilized and sophisticated the Yoruba nation was and is ... most of the infrastructure you see here are built by the Yoruba's or the British administrator ... is it Yoruba's fault that we decided to make life better and interesting for ourself by building a sky scrapper , TV station , university , cocoa house , stadium ?

Trailii:
no body marginalize anybody here .. this thread show how well civilized and sophisticated the Yoruba nation was and is ... most of the infrastructure you see here are built by the Yoruba's or the British administrator ... is it Yoruba's fault that we decided to make life better and interesting for ourself by building a sky scrapper , TV station , university , cocoa house , stadium ?

it's sarca!

THE FIRST MUSEUM IN NIGERIA

Esiẹ Museum is a museum in Esiẹ, Kwara State,
Nigeria . The museum was the first to be established in Nigeria when it opened in 1945. The museum once housed over one thousand tombstone figures or images representing human beings. It is reputed to have the largest collection of soapstone images in the world. In modern times the Esie museum has been the center of religious activities and hosts a festival in the month of April every year.
Ere Esie has long been known and associated with the people of Esie. Indeed, it has become a referent in the cosmology and socio-cultural spectrum of the people. However, the origin of these stone figures has long been a subject of social and academic discourse. In some quarters, it is believed that the images were formally human beings turned to stone by Supreme Being (Olodumare), while researchers and Archaeological findings prove that they were carved by some yet to be identified carvers. In fact, the objects are shrouded in great mysteries, myths and taboos.
It is widely believed that Esie people migrated from old Oyo in the years of Alafin Amuniwaye (late 18th Century). An Oyo prince, Adesole had contested the throne with Amuniwaye and lost. Consequently, he had to leave the Oyo town as tradition forbade him to stay after losing the contest. These Oyo emigrants, having wondered and settled at different places finally came to their present abode around 1775. It is also believed that a famous hunter, Baragbon who took the mantle of leadership led the people to Esie. It is equally believed that it was Baragbon, during one of his hunting expeditions that he accidentally discovered the stone images in a grove arranged in a semi-circle. This grove is located about 1.4 kilometres south west of Esie Township. The images consist of over one thousand stone carvings of men and women presided over by a king (Oba Ere), the largest collection of stone images in sub-Sahara Africa. Majority of the objects are carved in sitting position and were manufactured from steatite type of rock, otherwise known as soapstone. Features like facial marks and striations are seen on majority of the objects while some of the heads are plain-faced.
The sculptures range in height from 1.4 to 120 cm and weight between 0.55 and 104 kilograms. The carvings represent people engaged in different social activities: some playing musical instruments and many armed with arrows, machetes and unidentified objects. Few objects represent lower social status while majority of the objects depicts higher social status as attested by their rich attires, heavy beads and well-designed headgears. The artistry of the objects suggests that the objects were produced by highly developed African Society of the past.
These impressive artistic features of the object prompted the then colonial government of Nigeria to build a shelter to house the images in 1945 at the site of discovery (National Museum, Esie).
Other facilities include:
• Vast land mass suitable for eco-museum
• Viable archaeological sites for excavation
• Spacious children playing ground
• A modern gallery with a permanent exhibition titled; Indigenous Artworks as Indicators of Cultural harmony
• A stand-by generating set.
• Serene environment etc.

FIRST NIGERIAN BORN TO WIN GRAMMY

Helen Folasade Adu was born on 16 January 1959 in
Ibadan , Oyo State , Nigeria. Her middle name, Folasade, means "honour confers a crown". Her parents, Adebisi Adu, a Nigerian lecturer in economics of Yoruba background, and Anne Hayes, an English district nurse, met in London, married in 1955 and moved to Nigeria.
After completing a three-year course work in fashion design, and later modeling briefly, Sade began backup singing with British band Pride. During this time, she formed a songwriting partnership with Pride's guitarist/saxophonist Stuart Matthewman ; together, backed by Pride's rhythm section, they began doing their own sets at Pride gigs. Her solo performances of the song "Smooth Operator " attracted the attention of record companies, and in 1983 Sade and Matthewman split from Pride, along with keyboardist Andrew Hale, bassist Paul Denman and drummer Paul Cook, to form the band Sade. By the time she performed her first show at London's
Heaven nightclub, she had become so popular that 1,000 people were turned away at the door. In May 1983, Sade performed their first US show at the
Danceteria nightclub in New York City. On 18 October 1983, Sade Adu signed with Epic Records, while the rest of the band signed in 1984.
In late 1985, the band released their second album,
Promise , which peaked at number one in both the UK and the US and became the band's first album to reach number one on the US Billboard 200 . The album topped the chart in 1986 and spent two weeks at the peak position. Eventually, the album went on to sell four million copies in the region and was certified four times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Sade was so popular that some radio stations reinstated the '70s practice of playing album tracks, adding "Is It a Crime" and "Tar Baby" to their playlists. The following year in 1986 the band won a Grammy Award for Best New Artist.

First female face on African TV is Mrs Anike Agbaje Williams.
First female to drive a car is Mrs Funmilayo Ransome Kuti ( Mama Fela)

@op
Well done.

It's good to know our history. We should also have a compendium of all firsts irrespective of tribe.

AliasJoice:
......

Nigerians ehn!!!!
Buy cars they won't drive Build house they won't live Buy Cloth they won't wear Buy food they won't eat....

and still..... Book space they won't use.

Greetings my sister

https://d1k5w7mbrh6vq5.cloudfront.net/images/cache/14/eb/85/14eb857fb8934804445d6fdb9c37e050.jpg

CMS Grammar School, Lagos.

Oldest secondary school in Nigeria.





The CMS Grammar School in Bariga, a suburb of Lagos in Lagos State, is the oldest secondary school in Nigeria, founded on 6 June 1859 by the Church Missionary Society. For decades it was the main source of African clergymen and administrators in the Lagos Colony.

Foundation

The seed funding for CMS Grammar School, Lagos was made possible by James Pinson Labulo Davies who in April 1859 provided Babington Macaulay with £50 (equivalent of ₦1.34 million as of 2014) to buy books and equipment for the school. With the seed funding Macaulay opened CMS Grammar School on June 6, 1859.[2] In 1867, Davies contributed another £100 (₦2.68 million as of 2014) toward a CMS Grammar School Building Fund.[3] Other contributors to the CMS Building Fund were non Saros such as Daniel Conrad Taiwo AKA Taiwo Olowo who contributed £50. Saro contributors also included men such as Moses Johnson, I.H. Willoughby, T.F. Cole, James George, and Charles Foresythe who contributed £40.[4] The CMS Grammar School in Freetown, founded in 1848, served as a model.

The school began with six students, all boarders in a small, single story building called the 'Cotton House' at Broad Street. The first pupils were destined to be clergymen.[1] The curriculum included English, Logic, Greek, Arithmetic, Geometry, Geography, History, Bible Knowledge and Latin.[5] The first principal of the school was the scholar and theologian Babington Macaulay, who served until his death in 1878.[6] He was the father of Herbert Macaulay.[7] When the British colony of Lagos was established in 1861, the colonial authorities obtained most of their African clerical and administrative staff from the school.[1]

Principals

Babington Macaulay, 1859–1878.
Henry Johnson, 1879 - 1881 (acting).
Isaac Oluwole, 1881–1893.
James Johnson, 1893-1894 (acting).
E. A. Godson, 1894-1895.
Melville Jones 1895–1896 (acting)
Joseph Suberu Fanimokun, 1896-1914.
E. J. Evans, 1915-1927.
A. Hobson, 1927-1929.
F. Watherton 1929–1932.
J. Olumide Lucas, 1932-1935 (acting).
C. G. Thorne, 1935-1936.
Solomon Odunaiya Odutola, 1936-1938. (acting)
Leonard John Lewis, 1938-1943.
Seth Irunsewe Kale, 1944–1950.
B. A. Adelaja, 1950–1970.
T. A. Ojo, 1970-1972, (acting).
I. A. Olowu 1972-1984.
B. A. Nigwo, 1984-1986.
J. B. A. Edema, 1986-1997.
Taiwo O. Jemilugba, 1997–2001.
Johnson Onayinka, 2001–2005.
Tunde Oduwole, 2005-2017
OlaOluwa Adeyemi, 2017-present.
Alumni
Some notable alumni:

9ice (born 1980), musician
Adeyemo Alakija(1884–1952), media entrepreneur and co-founder of Daily Times of Nigeria
Akin Babalola Kamar Odunsi, businessman and Senator
Akin Euba (born 1935), professor of music
Akintola Williams (born 1919), accountant
Alexander Akinyele (1875–1968), Bishop
Ayodele Awojobi (1937–84), academic and activist
Babs Fafunwa (1923–2010), Federal Minister of Education
Bolaji Finnih (1910-1972), Accountant
Bode Thomas (1918–53), politician
Charles A. Adeogun-Phillips (born 1966), lawyer
Emeka Ojukwu, Biafran General and former Governor of the Eastern Region of Nigeria
Dandeson Crowther, Archbishop of the Niger and son of Samuel Ajayi Crowther
Dare Art Alade, musician
Ernest Shonekan (born 1936), President of Nigeria
Fela Sowande (1905–87), musician and composer
Frederick Rotimi Williams (1920–2005), lawyer
George Da Costa (1853–1929), photographer
Henry Adefope (1926–2012), Minister of External Affairs
Henry Fajemirokun, business magnate
Herbert Macaulay (1864–1946), surveyor and nationalist
Israel Oludotun Ransome-Kuti (1891 - 1955), Educationist and father of Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, Beko Ransome-Kuti, and Fela Kuti
Ibikunle Akitoye (1871-1928), Oba of Lagos
Karim Olowu (born 1924), athlete
Kitoye Ajasa (1866–1937), lawyer and politician
Niyi Adebayo (born 1958), Governor, Ekiti State
Oguntola Sapara (1861–1935), medical doctor, gynaecologist.
Ola Vincent (1925–2012), Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria
Oliver Ogedengbe Macaulay, son of Herbert Macaulay, journalist, and nationalist
Remi Fani-Kayode (1921–95), politician
Samuel Herbert Pearse (born 1865), businessman
Samuel Manuwa (1903–76), surgeon
Talabi Braithwaite (1928–2011), insurance broker
Taslim Olawale Elias (1914–91), Chief Justice of Nigeria
Thomas King Ekundayo Phillips (1884–1969), musicologist, father of Nigerian church music
Thomas Leighton Decker (1916–78), linguist and journalist
T. O. S. Benson (1917–2008), lawyer, politician
Tunji Sowande (1912–96), lawyer and musician
Victor Adetunji Haffner (born 1919), engineer
Wahab Goodluck (died 1991), President, Nigeria Labour Congress
Folarin Coker, Baba Eto of Yorubaland and Lagos, pioneer Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information Lagos

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delpee:
First female face on African TV is Mrs Anike Agbaje Williams.
First female to drive a car is Mrs Funmilayo Ransome Kuti ( Mama Fela)

@op
Well done.

It's good to know our history. We should also have a compendium of all firsts irrespective of tribe.

Thanks....

oladeebo:
The first foreigner Radio Broadcaster in Niger Republic in Yoruba
Oladoja Wahab
Eto Omoluabi
Radio Kakaki
1987

Nice one there