This is a compendium on the historical development of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria during its sixty years of existence. It is the third major historical collection of essays on different aspects of the university’s fulfillment of its academic, administrative and service mandates as one of Nigeria’s first-generation universities. The two earlier works – Ten Years of the University of Ife, 1962–1972, and Great Ife: a history of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, 1962–1987 – were published in 1973 and 1989 respectively to mark the tenth and twenty-fifth anniversaries of the University. This book, published to mark the Diamond Anniversary of the University, is an authoritative work on the history of the University from its inception in 1961 and a collection of essays on developments in the University since 1989 when its history was last documented.
Edited by Eyitope Ogunbodede, the current Vice-Chancellor, and Olusanjo Daramola, one of his deputies, Great Ife at 60 is divided into five sections with twenty-nine chapters written by thirty-three seasoned academics and administrators within and outside the University. The Preface is written by Owelle Oscar Udoji, current Chair of the Governing Council of the University, and the Foreword by Eyitope Ogunbodede.
The first section of the book, ‘Historical background and general administration’ contains five chapters: ‘Unique horizons: celebrating sixty years of Great Ife’ by Eyitope Ogunbodede; ‘Interrogating history, prioritising culture’ by Felix Ayoh Omidire; ‘Milestones and structural changes in the University Registry’ by Margaret Omosule; ‘Financial administration and the prospects and problems of funding’ by S. O. Ayansina; and ‘OAU @ 60: challenges of the University’ by Chris Olugbenga Ajila. In these, the authors who are mainly principal officers of the University’s chronicle, showcase and assess major academic and administrative achievements of the University over the last sixty years as well as its key challenges and bottlenecks.
Section Two, ‘Academic development’, features eight rich and scholarly chapters authored by senior academics and administrators. These include: ‘Hezekiah Oluwasanmi Library: the commanding heights of Obafemi Awolowo University academic engagement’ by Femi Oguntunase; ‘Faculty of Agriculture of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife’ by Ojo Kolawole Adekunle; ‘Sixty years of advancing teacher education in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife’ by B. I. Popoola; and ‘Legal education in Ife: 1961–2021’ by Babafemi Odunsi. Other chapters are: ‘Great Ife @ 60: advancing the frontiers of knowledge and culture – pure and applied sciences’ by Marcus Adebola Eleruja’; ‘The College of Health Sciences’ by Babatope A. Kolawole; ‘Postgraduate education in Obafemi Awolowo University’ by Victor F. Olaleye; and ‘Entrepreneurship education in Nigeria: the contribution of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife’, by Isaac O. Abereijo and Stephen A. Adegbite.
‘Linkages, networking and affiliations’ is the title of Section Three which features five important chapters. Kehinde Taiwo looks at ‘Linkages, research networking and collaboration’, while Olusanjo Matthew Daramola and Felix Ayoh Omidire author ‘Omode gbon, agba gbon lafi dale Ife: 60 years of town and gown relationship between Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and global communities’. The other chapters are Veronica Obatolu’s ‘History and evolution of Institute of Agricultural Research and Training (IAR&T)’, Samuel Akinrinola Akintude’s ‘Adeyemi College of Education: benefits and challenges of affiliation’ and Sola Akanni’s ‘Centre for Distance Learning: past, present and future’.
Section Four of the book is devoted to issues in ‘Staff and students’ welfare and advancement’ and features five chapters. These are ‘Residential system and social life’ by Monone Omosule and Bimbo Adesoji; ‘OAU @ 60: the labour unions’ by M. A. O. Aluko; ‘Students’ unionism’ by Isiaka Olalekan Aransi; ‘Sporting activities and achievements’ by Y. B. Amusa and I. J. Ikpo; and ‘Religious inter-faith and harmony’ by S. A. Adeniyi.
The fifth Section, entitled ‘Community services, capacity building and sponsorship’, has a total of six chapters: Oluyemisi Obilade and Foluke Awotoye’s ‘Re-engineering principles, processes and service: the story of Obafemi Awolowo University’s TETFund Office’; B. A. Omoteso’s ‘Obafemi Awolowo University Staff School, Ile-Ife’; D. A. Osifade’s ‘O.A.U. International School’; Yinka Ayantola’s ‘Obafemi Awolowo University Investment Company Limited’; Ronke Ajibola’s ‘Honours roll in the past sixty years’; and Wole Olaoye’s ‘Alumni as engine room of university endowment’.
The editors proclaim this book ‘the most authentic and current record of the evolution of this University in the last 60 years’. As Vice-Chancellor Eyitope Ogunbodede, in his Foreword, sums up: ‘It is a historical omnibus chronicling and dissecting the essence of existence of “Great Ife” University as a first generation institution in Nigeria’.
Important as it is, Great Ife at 60 suffers from some bibliographic inadequacies, chiefly arising from the fact that neither of the editors and only two of the contributors are trained historians. This lack of a professional historical touch is discernible in the contents of most of the essays despite the availability of primary and secondary historical data.
Other infelicities include the inconsistent use of font sizes for headings and sub-headings and inconsistencies in the use of author’s initials and first names in the Table of Contents and at the beginning of chapters. Furthermore, the book opens with some items that would be better placed as appendices, such as the names of current members of the Council of the University and a list of Vice-Chancellors from inception until 2022. A major omission is the updated list of graduates of the university from 1987 to 2022. The Silver Jubilee publication edited by O. Omosini and A. A. Adediran (1989) provided such a list, from the first graduands in 1965 to 1987. An updated list of graduates from 1988 to 2022 would have been a valuable contribution.
These reservations notwithstanding, this volume is undoubtedly an important addition to existing literature not only on the history of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, but also on the history of university education in Nigeria, a record of one of Africa’s leading universities of the twenty-first century – self-styled ‘Africa’s Most Beautiful Campus’ – Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
The Book can be ordered by contacting the University Librarian at librarian@oauife.edu.ng.
