Historical Events In Nigeria That First Took Place In Ibadan Part1

Historical Events In Nigeria That First Took Place In Ibadan Part1

-Kehinde Ayeotan

The University Of Ibadan
The University of Ibadan (UI) is the first University in Nigeria founded on its own site on 17 November in the year 1948 and the only Nigerian university founded before the country got her independence, the institution is also one of the most prestigious universities in Nigeria.

The history of University Of Ibadan can be traced to Yaba College, which was founded in the year 1932 and was later transferred in the year 1948 to Ibadan and promptly became the University College of Ibadan.

University College of Ibadan became an independent university in 1962 when it separated from University of London which it had been affiliated to in a special relationship scheme in previous years.

Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the  first Prime Minister, was named the first Chancellor of University of Ibadan.
The first Nigerian vice chancellor of the University of Ibadan was Kenneth Dike, who has been immortalised by the University by naming the University of Ibadan’s library after him.

The University of Ibadan has produced notable alumni for the Nigerian society. This man of honour includes Wole Soyinka who was the first African to win a Nobel Prize for literature in the year 1986. Prof. Wole Soyinka later taught at the university campus. Chinua Achebe, also another leading contemporary Nigerian writer, is a product of the University. Political activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was executed in the year 1995 by the Nigerian government for the prominent role he played in the protest against foreign oil company exploitation of the people of Niger Delta and their resources, and many other well known people in the society.